0:00Hello and welcome to Episode 1010 of the official Establish The Run podcast.
0:04My name is Adam Levitan. I am one of the co-founders here at ETR.
0:09As always, joined by fellow co-founder Evan Silva and every NFL team has now played a preseason game.
0:15Depth charts are becoming clearer. Injuries are happening all over.
0:18We're still roughly three and a half weeks away from actual football though.
0:22I am ascending towards the full 3.9 inches. Evan, how's it going today?
0:26Yeah, we have the first week of preseason under our belts and we'll talk about the changes that resulted from that.
0:33But we still have two games to play, two preseason games to play, a ton of practice to go.
0:39The injuries are starting to mount up though already.
0:42This season starts like a week later than normal, but training camp didn't start any later.
0:47So this is like one of the longest training camps that we've ever experienced.
0:52It's going to be a very long season. And by the way, the season will culminate on Valentine's Day this year, February
0:5914th, Valentine's Day, Super Bowl this year. On today's show, we will be discussing what has happened at training camps and in
1:06preseason games over the last seven days and how we should be adjusting our fantasy rankings for that.
1:12We will also go over Silva's latest ranking changes.
1:15I do want to note this show is running in place of Market Monday this week.
1:20A lot of the Market Monday movers that I was going to hit on, they were news related anyways.
1:26And we also have three more very important shows to get to this week.
1:31So I decided to kind of pull this together, the news and ranking change show and Market Monday together today.
1:37Be sure you're subscribed. It is free here on YouTube.
1:40Again, three more shows coming this week after this one.
1:44Also, if you have a fantasy draft coming up soon, and I know you do, we can help.
1:49I promise no one dedicates more time and frankly money to ensuring that we have the most up-to-date and best rankings.
1:56Our DraftKit Pro is only $55, includes Silva's Top 150 in tiers, all of our ETR rankings in tiers, MyDraftStrategy, PlayerByPlayerNotes, Thorman's
2:03rankings in season, and ton, tons more. If you are more serious, you need the Bundle.
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2:23All right, Silva, let's get into it here. We'll start with news and then we'll get to preseason usage after that.
2:29Big news item of the last seven days. Jordan Tyson, Saints rookie wide receiver, pulled his right or injured his right hamstring last Thursday.
2:37In a joint practice against the Saints. Against the Jaguars.
2:40This is a bad one, man. I mean, this is a guy that we've been really high on ever since he landed in New Orleans.
2:48And it's not just a right hamstring injury in isolation.
2:52This is the same right hamstring that gave Jordan Tyson all kinds of problems in his final season at Arizona State.
2:58Now he's going to seek multiple opinions on this hamstring.
3:02Never a good sign. Evan, how worried are you?
3:05How are you handling Jordan Tyson right now? I dropped him down quite a ways.
3:09I mean, in talking to Nick Underhill, and listening to Kellen Moore, this is a situation that the Saints fear could linger
3:17into week one, that Jordan Tyson probably, if they were to predict right now, will not play in week one.
3:23The good news is that he was shelved for the vast majority of the offseason.
3:28And then he gets to training camp and he's ready to go.
3:32And he was dominating in practice. So once Jordan Tyson does return, and look, I've been a high-volume Jordan Tyson drafter, so
3:39I'm fairly optimistic with that bias as context. Once he does return, I think he's going to be ready to go.
3:46And he'll have that in him to be dominant like he was on the practice field.
3:51Like no one could cover him. I mean, there was immediately talk of like, could he unseat Chris Olave as the Saints' number one receiver?
3:59And so I'm staying optimistic about him. But, I mean, it's obviously a major setback.
4:04This guy, Jordan Tyson, has had four separate hamstring injuries in the last calendar year or so.
4:09And, I mean, obviously this is really not a fluke.
4:13This is something that is obviously recurring. Right. And that's my big concern again.
4:17If this was in isolation, I'd be more on Silva's side.
4:21I'd be saying, well, when he gets back, he's going to be great.
4:25Now I'm concerned that this is like a Christian Watson situation.
4:29It took Christian Watson two years, three years to solve what was wrong with his hamstring and kept pulling it and pulling
4:36it and pulling it over and over again. So, listen, the I can predict injury bros, they're going to take a victory
4:43lap here because they were telling me you can't get this high on Jordan Tyson.
4:48He can't stay healthy. I'm honestly concerned that they're right now.
4:51We've actually gone lower than Silva in the ranks.
4:54We've gone to 84 overall on Tyson in our half PPR ranks.
4:58Silva is at 72 overall now in his top 150.
5:01Quick fallout here for deeper league and deep best ball people, Evan.
5:05I thought Devon Vele was an interesting pick already as the Saints' number three wide receiver in an offense we expect to take a leap.
5:13Devon Vele is 6'4", 203, ran a 4'47". Remember, Saints traded for him last season.
5:18Like, gave up an actual pick for Vele. A decent pick.
5:22Yeah. I mean, his underlying stats haven't been great.
5:25But yeah, if Tyson were to miss time, do you have any interest in Vele or any other thoughts there?
5:31Not particularly. But I mean, I understand how if you're drafting, you know, if you're making 18 to 20 draft picks in
5:38a best ball draft, like Devon Vele is suddenly definitely on the radar.
5:42I mean, even when Jordan Tyson comes back, I'm optimistic that he'll be able to jump in and be productive right away.
5:49But he could have another setback. So, you know, and we believe in this offense.
5:54Yeah. So I totally get it with Devon Vele.
5:57I also think that, you know, I've been super high on Chris Olave.
6:01I feel more confident in having Chris Olave as a top 20 overall player.
6:06And I think that Juwan Johnson is a player that benefits if and when Jordan Tyson misses time.
6:12And Juwan Johnson has allegedly been having a really nice training camp as well.
6:16I mean, converted wide receiver. He's a big-time athlete.
6:19I think that he's a guy worth betting on as well.
6:23I mean, there are fallouts across the roster from Jordan Tyson, who we had, I don't know, what were we projecting him for?
6:30Like 110-some targets? I mean, we expected him to have a really nice year.
6:35Yeah. Still was up to 18 overall on Chris Olave now.
6:38He goes around 28, 29, 30 typically. So, yeah.
6:41So if you're using the top 150, like, you're probably going to get Chris Olave.
6:46Yep. All right. Second news story of the week is another bad one, Evan.
6:51Jeremiah Love, Evan's boy from Notre Dame, hurts his ankle in the preseason opener.
6:55I'm sorry. It wasn't their opener. In their first week one preseason game.
6:59So Cardinals played their starters in the preseason game.
7:02Jacoby Brissett played 11 snaps. Jeremiah Love played eight.
7:05Tyler Algier played three of those. I thought Jeremiah Love looked really good.
7:09You know, elusiveness is clearly off the charts. I was like, all right, great.
7:14He got his eight snaps. Let's get him out.
7:17No. They leave Jeremiah Love in for 24 snaps and 14 touches and a half.
7:22On that 14th touch, he catches an angle route and kind of gets twisted down.
7:27Sprains his ankle. Schefter reports last night it is a high ankle sprain for Jeremiah.
7:32Love, Silva, thoughts on this injury. I mean, one of the themes of the offseason that we've talked about on so many
7:39shows dating back to the draft, and I think even before that is just how dumb the Arizona Cardinals organization is.
7:45I mean, and this is another testament to that.
7:48You put Jeremiah Love in harm's way, the number three overall pick, for 14 touches in a preseason game, and you get
7:55him injured, and he suffers a high ankle sprain.
7:58High ankle sprains are bad. They're bad news. I think that PCL has actually overtaken the high ankle sprain in terms of
8:06the injuries that I hate for my player to suffer the most in fantasy.
8:10I know people will be like, well, what do you mean?
8:14Like, isn't it the worst injury? Like, if he gets out for the year?
8:18No. It's actually worse if you have a player that's trying to come back at, like, 60%, and he gets cleared by
8:25the doctors to play, and then he's highly ineffective.
8:28And it's like, why is he so ineffective? Because he's clearly not recovered from the high ankle sprain or the PCL.
8:35I mean, it's just an extremely – and, you know, they can keep aggravating.
8:40It's an aggravating injury, period. I also think it lessens the likelihood that we see James Conner go somewhere.
8:46James Conner also is banged up, by the way.
8:49I think it helps Tyler Algier. You know, I don't know.
8:52We're going to have to – it's touch and go, I think, for Jeremiah Love for his week one availability.
8:59And another injury that should have garnered big-time headlines but didn't just because no one knows who Chase Besantis is, the 34th overall pick in the draft.
9:07This is a guy that Dane Brugler throughout the draft process was talking up as a potential first-round pick.
9:14He got awfully close to going in the first round.
9:17He's probably going to be the Cardinals starting right guard at some point this season, if not week one.
9:23Probably done for the year with a torn MCL.
9:26So, you know, for how dumb that the Cardinals have operated for the last – I don't even know how long.
9:33And I almost feel like I'm rooting against them.
9:36I mean, they deserve 0-17 this year, and they have the makings of an 0-17 team as well.
9:41They have one of the hardest schedules I've ever seen in my entire life, and obviously losing Chase Besantis is not a good way to start.
9:50Obviously, the Jeremiah Love thing, you know, I don't want to debate whether he should have been in the game or not.
9:57I don't think he should have been in the game.
10:00Everyone doesn't think he should have been in the game.
10:03Whatever. Going forward, though, what I thought was going to happen was it was going to be similar to the Algier-Bijon split
10:11in Atlanta, where Algier got his touches. They weren't worth very much.
10:14He did steal a couple goal line things, and I thought Algier maybe could have done that, but not that much.
10:21I think that's the way they wanted to play it based on that preseason game usage.
10:26I have concerns that the ankle now is going to be a problem.
10:31We went to 28 overall we dropped Jeremiah Love down to in the half PPR ranks.
10:36I could see us getting lower than that if he doesn't get back and start getting a little bit more mobility soon.
10:43It's a risky pick on Jeremiah Love right now.
10:46I thought he had a wide range of outcomes to start with, and now with a high ankle sprain, it's an even
10:53wider range of outcomes for me on Jeremiah Love.
10:56And yeah, Algier is going to be a riser.
10:59Evan mentioned the Conner injury. James Conner had a really bad right ankle slash foot injury last season.
11:05He needed surgery. He's not back yet, and Trey Benson also has been hurt.
11:09So, I mean... And we were talking about James Conner and Trey Benson maybe landing in different locales this season.
11:16I mean, the Cardinals are going to probably have to keep them because they have so many injuries all of a sudden at the running back position.
11:24Yeah. All right. Let's get to some good news, Evan.
11:28Story three, Bears played a preseason game on Saturday.
11:31Most importantly, though, before the game, there was a hero there in the Chicago media.
11:35I don't know exactly who it was getting video of Luther Burden working out before the game.
11:41I thought he was running decently fast and well in a straight line.
11:45I thought he looked good. And then some very light routes they got on video also.
11:50So, the original report on Luther Burden was he was going to be out a month or so, be back for week one.
11:58Really encouraging to see that he's already back running in a straight line.
12:02Evan, any updated thoughts for you on Luther Burden?
12:05Just confirmation bias for me here because I never moved Luther Burden.
12:09I never got worried about his injury. We talked about Luther Burden on man versus machine.
12:14I'm just really, really bullish this season on Luther Burden.
12:17Caleb Williams was talking the other day, actually during the preseason game, about what happens when they see man coverage.
12:24And, you know, when he sees man coverage pre-snap.
12:27I mean, the guy that he's going to look to, to trust, that is going to be able to beat man coverage
12:34on the Bears is Luther Burden, like, by far.
12:37So, not worried about that at all. Great situation.
12:40The Bears' defense continues to deteriorate. They actually are so desperate.
12:43They signed Marcus Davenport, who hasn't been any kind of a productive player since, like, 2000, since 2021, which was a half decade ago.
12:51And the Bears, it looks like they are going to get back Ozzy Trapillo.
12:55Trapillo, who pretty much everyone had discounted as potentially missing the entire season after rupturing his patellar tendon late last year, became
13:03the Bears' starting left tackle as a rookie last year.
13:06And at very least, he provides them insurance on, like, Braxton Jones.
13:10He also has a history at right tackle. So, at very least, he gives the Bears quality depth already off of the PUP list.
13:17That's huge news. The Bears are, like, the most lopsided team in the league.
13:22They have a chance to be a juggernaut on offense.
13:25I think they will be a juggernaut on offense.
13:28And they have a chance to be, like, the worst defense in football.
13:32Yeah. The Trapillo thing is crazy. All I can think is peptides.
13:36I don't want to accuse anyone, but all I can think is peptides.
13:40Well, let's get Jordan Tyson some peptides then. How about that?
13:44Exactly, dude. I already tweeted about that. We need the peptides for Jordan Tyson.
13:49And, yeah, also, by the way, Kobe Bryant officially had the surgery.
13:52He's out four to six months and is going to miss the season there, Will.
13:57Kobe Bryant. Yeah, I mean, the thing for me is if you want to have a middle-round wide receiver strategy, and I
14:04talked about this some in the draft strategy article you guys can read on the site now, guys like Burden and Tyson
14:12and Egbuka, like, we need those guys healthy to execute that strategy.
14:15And I think Egbuka and Burden are going to be fine.
14:19Obviously, I have some concerns about Tyson now. Story four comes out of Carolina.
14:24So the Jonathan Brooks team was already happening, Evan.
14:26And now Chuba Hubbard pulls his hamstring. They're calling him week to week.
14:31The Jonathan Brooks hype is officially out of control.
14:34Just a few weeks ago, he was going around 100 overall.
14:37Now he's up to 74. I've seen him go in the 50s lately, like literally in the 50s for Jonathan Brooks now.
14:44So, Evan, how much do you think this Chuba Hubbard hamstring pull matters and is making you want to be in on Jonathan Brooks more now?
14:53I think it definitely matters because it opens the door for Jonathan Brooks to soak up all the reps, show the coaching staff that he's healthy.
15:01He didn't really do much in their first preseason game, but that was very, very limited touches.
15:07And we don't like to read into preseason performance as much as preseason usage.
15:11A big emphasis on preseason usage. It's just it opens the door for Jonathan Brooks.
15:16I know that you tend to be more skeptical on his recovery and how he's going to be able to come back from the two ACL reconstructions.
15:25And I totally get that. At the end of the day, for me, man, when I zoom out on the Panthers, I
15:32just think they're going to be terrible. I mean, I just think that they're going to be really, really bad.
15:38They're not going to have positive game scripts. They lost, you know, their second best pass rusher, Nick Scorton, already for the season.
15:46They're going to be without, you know, they're playing with fire at offensive tackle with Taylor Moton out indefinitely.
15:52And Ike Kwanwu probably done in a Panthers uniform.
15:55I mean, it's just such a bad situation all around that I don't think even if Jonathan Brooks does take the job,
16:02I don't know how much he's really going to help us in fantasy.
16:06At some point, Chuba Hubbard will be back. And Chuba Hubbard will, you know, will do things that will endear him to
16:13the coaching staff of a really bad team. It's hard for me to get super excited about Jonathan Brooks.
16:19I know there's a lot of people out there that are excited about him.
16:24Yeah, I'm not sure those people are excited about him in the fifth round, though.
16:29People are really excited to take a chance on him at 100 overall, 113 overall.
16:34I started getting queasy in the 70s. We are at 76 overall right now in the ETR ranks.
16:40That is after the Chuba injury, though. So he's going to go before that in almost all drafts.
16:45Jonathan Brooks before this 76 spot that we have him on.
16:49And the only thing that concerns me about, like, the fade on Brooks is, A, past game profile coming out of college looked good, way better than Chuba.
16:58And B, yes, I agree with Evan. The Panthers suck.
17:01But they find themselves in, like, the playoff mix every year because the division is so bad.
17:07They get to play Atlanta twice, Tampa twice, New Orleans twice.
17:10Those are pretty good spots for Jonathan Brooks, you know, when you have six games against those three teams.
17:16So, you know, I'm a little worried about Jonathan Brooks' fade because I don't have him when he was going in the 80s and 90s.
17:25But now that he's going to the 50s, I'm like, all right, you know, whatever.
17:29It's fine. You guys can have him in the 50s for sure.
17:33All right. Let's go to... Oh, by the way, just the Jonathan Brooks usage real quick.
17:38He played... Bryce Young played 10 snaps in that preseason game.
17:42Jonathan Brooks played eight of them. The only time he came off the field was on third and long stuff for Trevor Etienne.
17:49So, you know, pretty good usage there even though Jonathan Brooks wasn't productive.
17:54Only got four touches. But, yeah, I thought the usage was good for Brooks.
17:58All right. More injuries here. Story number five. Emeka Egbuka has a toe injury.
18:03The Bucs are not calling it turf toe. They're reportedly optimistic he'll be ready for week one.
18:08But turf toe, even though they haven't called it turf toe, like, this stuff always scares me.
18:14Greg Allman had a tweet today. He said, not a lot of clarity on Emeka Egbuka's toe and how long he'll be sidelined.
18:21Coach Todd Bowles said that Egbuka is day-to-day, week-to-week.
18:24Asked if the injury could impact his availability for week one.
18:28Bowles said, not sure at this time. So, Evan, how worried are you about this Emeka Egbuka toe thing or thinking about dropping him in the ranks?
18:36I don't even have anything to add to that.
18:39You know, we just have a very clear – the only thing clear that we have regarding Emeka Egbuka is a total
18:47lack of clarity coming from Todd Bowles. And that's what Greg Allman, who's done a great job covering the Bucs for a really long time, said himself.
18:55So, I'm not making any movement because we don't have any clarity.
18:59I'm not super concerned because even at its worst, it doesn't seem like a horrible injury.
19:04It seems – I don't know what to say.
19:07We don't have clarity on Emeka Egbuka. One thing is clear.
19:11Todd Bowles will say anything and it doesn't have to make sense.
19:15He said that Bucky Irving might be out until the summer or the fall.
19:19Bucky Irving was 100% in July on day one of camp.
19:23Now he says Egbuka, you know, like I want to hear from someone else than Bowles.
19:28I do not trust Bowles at all on this injury stuff.
19:32While we wait – I get it. Some coaches like aren't comfortable talking about injury situations.
19:37They'd rather just let – they don't know. I'm not a doctor.
19:41I don't know. Talk to the trainers. You know, that's a very famous quote from Mike Ditka.
19:46Ask the trainer. Sure. You know. Well, that's fair.
19:49Then don't say that Bucky Irving might be back sometime in the fall.
19:53Just say, I don't know. Right. I mean, fair enough.
19:56You were also correct. We did – in the meantime, while we wait for a little more info, we did a small
20:04ding on Egbuka in the ETR ranks. So we're at 40 overall on Egbuka right now.
20:09Evan is at 31 overall on Egbuka in his ranks.
20:12In terms of like Fallout, if Egbuka was to miss time, Ted Hurst continues to make waves.
20:18And Ted Hurst is a natural X. I think they could play – if Egbuka were to miss time – Hurst at
20:25the X, McMillan at Z, and Godwin in slot.
20:28And that's how they would try to roll. If you put any stock into like training camp videos and stuff, I mean, Ted Hurst is really, really impressive.
20:37I know he impressed a lot of people at the Senior Bowl as well.
20:41I mean, because he has a unique skill – a skill set that is unique to the Buccaneers wide receiver core, I
20:48think he's a real threat for playing time. I think he's a great like really late round pick in best ball.
20:55I took him in. Do you play the FFPC pros versus Joes?
20:59I don't. Do you do that? No. You don't?
21:02Yeah, I took him with my last pick after drafting Baker Mayfield.
21:06Ted Hurst is really intriguing as a true X receiver with some big play potential.
21:11Agreed. They do not have another true X receiver on the roster.
21:15Yeah, and in redraft, like putting Ted Hurst on your roster and seeing what happens with Egbuka's injury or how they use him.
21:22And then you can always just cut him. You know, it's not expensive.
21:26And McMillan also is banged up. And McMillan is sort of ticketed for that X role.
21:31And, you know, he's not really a true X either.
21:35Jalen McMillan. Yeah. Last thing on this for me.
21:38So it's so tight for us in the rankings between this tier of wide receivers.
21:42So just a small ding moves the rankings a lot.
21:46But think about all the guys you can take here around where Egbuka goes.
21:50Alave. Rasheed Rice. Garrett Wilson. Lad McConkie. Devonta Smith.
21:53Zay Flowers. T. Higgins. I mean, I could keep going and going.
21:57There's an insane amount of wide receivers that I want in this range.
22:01And so if you're drafting now and like there's any question, I think it's okay to kind of shy away just a hair until we get more info.
22:10All right. Story six comes from this morning. Brees Hall left practice on Monday with a non-contact groin injury.
22:16Aaron Glenn said Brees strained his groin. Didn't think it was a big deal.
22:21But he wants to make sure and get an evaluation on that.
22:25Brees Hall is going for imaging on his groin.
22:28Evan, any thoughts on the Brees Hall injury from today?
22:31Yeah, it happened this morning. So I haven't really made any reactionary movements based on it.
22:36You know, it's at least mildly concerning. But again, as we said at the top of the show, like there's a lot of time until week one.
22:45And this injury doesn't sound serious. Aaron Glenn. Yeah, I mean, they're going to go do, you know, some tests.
22:51They gave Brees Hall a lot of money this offseason.
22:55They were hoping to actually increase his role from last season.
22:58You know, maybe the best, you know, the most talented player on their offense that they have.
23:04So they're going to take all the necessary precautions.
23:07But it doesn't sound like a worrisome injury at this stage of training camp, I don't think.
23:12Yeah. I mean, it's just tilting to me because all the guys that I'm on seem to be getting hurt.
23:19Like Brees, I think was a really, really good pick this year in round three.
23:23And sometimes like three, four turn type stuff, you might be able to get him.
23:28I really like Brees. The preseason usage was awesome.
23:31Like, I think they're going to go full bell cow on him for the most part.
23:36He got hurt. I was on Luther Byrne a big way.
23:40He got hurt. Jordan Tyson. I was on a big way.
23:44He got hurt. Ricky Pearsall in a big way.
23:46He got hurt. Like, has not been the greatest start here for me.
23:51So I hope that Brees is okay. My only other comment on this was Isaiah Davis has been banged up.
23:57He's expected back here. He has a knee injury.
24:00He's expected back in a couple weeks. But it's giving Braylon Allen a little bit of a runway here.
24:06Davis and Brees both hurt. I'm not sure Braylon Allen is like good enough.
24:11But he's super young and big and physical. Like, yeah, there's at least some runway here for him.
24:17All right, here's an interesting story, Evan. Story number seven.
24:20Giants are working out free agent running back Najee Harris.
24:23I already had this as something to talk about, the Giants running back spot.
24:28Because I thought Cam Scadaboo's usage in the preseason game was not great.
24:32He lost a ton of snaps to Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary.
24:36My initial thought was they're just kind of easing in Scadaboo off of injury.
24:40And then Tyrone Tracy whiffs on this pass protection and got Jackson Dart killed.
24:45So the thing is, like, it's not just what happened on Saturday.
24:49And then they bring someone in. There has been rumors linking the Giants to running backs going all the way back to free agency and the draft.
24:57So it gives me a little bit of pause here about what's going on.
25:02So, Evan, any thoughts on Giants backfield right now?
25:05It gives me some pause, too. I mean, the whole backfield really gives me pause.
25:10I mean, you got Cam Scadaboo coming off an injury where he essentially suffered three injuries on the same part of his leg ankle.
25:17You got Tyrone Tracy. It seemed like on that play, and Harbaugh was pissed about that play.
25:23I mean, he essentially called out Tyrone Tracy. It seemed like Tyrone Tracy thought he was supposed to be running a route.
25:30And he's like, oh, God, this guy's blitzing. He tried to get back, and he got Jackson Dart just crushed.
25:37And Najee Harris has always been a good pass protector.
25:40We don't know about his vision after the fireworks accident.
25:43He's coming off a torn Achilles. Achilles, you know, even before the Achilles, you know, Achilles is an explosiveness sapping injury.
25:50He was not an explosive runner. Najee Harris was not.
25:53So it seems like that could be a direct indicator, like, all right, well, hey, we need backs in here that can
26:00protect our quarterback, who's already a little wild in the way that he plays in the first place.
26:06Maybe it's a message to, you know, an indictment of Tyrone Tracy.
26:10It also, like, from a skill set standpoint, Najee Harris is pretty similar to Cam Scadaboo in that, you know, they're both
26:17big backs who are good around the goal line.
26:20They get pass protect, you know, they run in the four sixes, but, you know, they're good in certain areas.
26:26This almost can overlap in terms of skill set between Najee Harris and Cam Scadaboo.
26:31So, look, no signing has happened. Again, Najee Harris, we don't know about his vision.
26:36We don't know about his health, all that. But if he is signed, he's going to get probably a veteran minimum contract,
26:43and he's going to be also trying to make the team.
26:47Okay, so there's no definite, you know, signals here coming from this visit between Najee Harris and the Giants.
26:53But, yeah, it makes you feel uneasy, no question.
26:56Yeah, see, to me it's not even about Najee Harris himself, right, because they have Turbo Miller and he's hurt, and people
27:03are going to say, oh, well, they just needed a camp body, a fourth guy.
27:08To me, it's just another sign that they don't like their running back room.
27:12They were in on Kenneth Walker in free agency, reportedly.
27:16They were in on Jeremiah Love in the draft, reportedly.
27:19Dan Dugan of The Athletic has been saying for months, I keep reading it, and he's like, Giants want to add a dynamic running back.
27:27Giants want to add to their running back room.
27:30I thought they were happy with Cam Scadaboo as they're starting running back.
27:34Now I'm starting to think maybe I'm wrong and they're not happy with him.
27:39Or maybe they're just boomers. We're talking about John Harbaugh, Greg Roman, Matt Nagy.
27:43Maybe they're just boomers and they want to add guys like Najee Harris to the room.
27:48But all in all, it's just like, makes me a little queasy that they don't like Scadaboo enough off the injury also to just commit to him.
27:57You know what I mean? Because I thought he played well last year when he was healthy.
28:03So, yeah, it's weird. We are at 43 overall in the ETR ranks.
28:07Cam Scadaboo's ADB is 36 overall. Silva on Scadaboo is down way lower here at 62 overall.
28:12Big fade on Scadaboo. Well, he was the guy we talked about on Man vs.
28:17Machine. Yeah. Which, by the way, that got released.
28:20If people haven't seen that yet, check it out.
28:23I think it was a pretty decent show. Oh, it was great.
28:27It was great. Hopefully everybody checked out. Man vs.
28:30Machine. More on the Scadaboo debate in there. All right.
28:33A couple more quick news items here before we get to preseason usage.
28:37Cam Wolfe, a national reporter but does cover the Jaguars a lot.
28:41He reported that Brian Thomas will play X this year.
28:44Not really news there, but I thought the quote was interesting.
28:48He said, they learned last year that Brian Thomas' strength is not necessarily going over the middle of the field, taking physicality.
28:55They want Brian Thomas Jr. to go deep. Two thoughts around that.
28:59First, it's a tough role in today's NFL. Like, succeeding with explosives vertically in the pass game is exactly what defenses are prioritizing stopping.
29:07And there have been very good vertical threats who have had bad fantasy seasons, I think, for that reason.
29:13And second, there's been reports that Travis Hunter is practicing at the X.
29:17And so when Travis Hunter comes on the field, does that mean that Brian Thomas comes off the field?
29:23If so, that's pretty good for Parker Washington and not great for Brian Thomas.
29:28So Evan, any thoughts on this quote here from Cam Wolfe?
29:31I think that he's reiterating things that I already thought about Brian Thomas.
29:36I don't want to call him a sacrificial X, but a lid lifter, sort of coverage changer, guy who's going to run
29:43a lot of routes that the ball is not necessarily intended to go to him.
29:48He'll be a tactical weapon as opposed to a guy that has a chance at 10 targets in a given game.
29:54And that, as you mentioned, is not super conducive to any kind of fantasy consistency.
29:59Brian Thomas is big and fast and has a long history of scoring a lot of touchdowns.
30:05So he will be capable of having big moments and random big games.
30:09But in terms of consistency, no. And then Michael DiCiccone, who covers the Jaguars, he wrote an article saying that he believes
30:16that Parker Washington has sort of separated himself as the Jaguars' number one receiver.
30:21So I put Parker Washington up in a place where people are going to really have a chance to draft him.
30:27Whereas with Brian Thomas, really, really lukewarm on him.
30:30Yeah. Silver's up to 56 overall here on Parker Washington, who has been one of the bigger risers here in camp among top 100 guys.
30:38Really, really strong camp for Parker Washington. And again, to me, the biggest point is if Travis Hunter's coming on the field,
30:46it sounds like he's coming on on the outside.
30:48And that is very good for Parker Washington. That's, yeah, bad for Brian Thomas, good for Parker Washington.
30:54Story number nine comes out of Atlanta. Report is that Tua Tagovailoa has the inside track to win the starting job.
31:01I don't know if you saw Tua's preseason game, Evan.
31:04He didn't play a lot of snaps, but it was ugly.
31:08I mean, really, really ugly. The problem for them is Michael Pennick still sounds like he's a couple weeks away from practicing
31:15in 11 on 11 coming back from that ACL.
31:18So quarterback play is a concern for me in Atlanta.
31:21Tua did not look good. Evan, any thoughts on this report?
31:25Tua likely to start week one in the way he looked in the preseason game?
31:30Expected. Expected. I mean, I did love it because Tua was out there peppering my boy Kyle Pitts with targets.
31:36But other than, yeah, I mean, I don't think Tua's going to last under center.
31:41Hopefully, for the sake of Kyle Pitts, Tua ends up making it like 10 or 12 starts.
31:46That would be like maybe my ceiling. Yeah, I think that Tua's a backup in the NFL at this stage of his
31:54career and not a guy that's going to be able to last, not just from a health standpoint, but from an on-field effectiveness standpoint as a 17-game starter.
32:03Yeah. I mean, Tua, to me, has not been the same since the concussions, period.
32:07You know, and I feel bad. It's awful. But he has not been the same since then.
32:13If you watch him play, it's just like checkdowns, quick passes to Kyle Pitts, checkdowns to Bijan.
32:19Like, I think we're going to see a ton of that.
32:22And obviously to London as well. It's not exciting, but I think you can get away with that in fantasy because it's so concentrated.
32:30Like, anytime they score, it's going to be Pitts, London, and Bijan, maybe some quick hitters to branch.
32:36But like, that's it. But it's just hard to play offense when everything's so close in line of scrimmage, man.
32:42So, yeah. Just, they're a bad team, Atlanta. I mean, they're bad.
32:46It's funny that suits Zachariah Branch like really, really well.
32:49If you base it off of what he did, you know, his final season in college.
32:54I think he had 81 catches and like 50 of them or something were screens.
32:59Yeah, yeah. I mean, this could be a really bad team.
33:03And one of the ways that you could really rack it up with Pitts or Bijan or London, they get behind big.
33:10And then Tua just, against prevent defenses, Tua just takes the underneath stuff.
33:14And you look up and Kyle Pitts has 10 catches.
33:17And Drake London has 12. And Bijan has seven, you know.
33:21And things like that can happen with Tua for sure.
33:24All right, last one, small one here. There are reports out of Minnesota, Evan, that Ty Felton could unseat Juwan Jennings as the wide receiver three.
33:33In the preseason game, Justin Jefferson did not play.
33:36It was Ty Felton that played on the outside.
33:39Jennings only played in three wide receiver sets. So, Kyler played nine snaps.
33:43It was Felton nine, Addison nine, Juwan Jennings four.
33:46We did put a doc on Juwan Jennings in the rankings.
33:49Evan, any thoughts on Minnesota secondary wide receiver here before we move on?
33:53Ty Felton is a, he's 6'1", 183 with 4-3-7 speed, just freaky, freaky athleticism.
33:58But he's not a player that is going to command a lot of targets.
34:02Totally different player than Juwan Jennings, who's a big sort of physical guy who can block in the middle of the field, you know, ran 4-7.
34:11I mean, diametrically opposed in terms of their skill sets.
34:14But Ty Felton fills a certain role on the field.
34:17But I just, you know, Juwan Jennings, people talk about Brock Purdy being a product of the Kyle Shanahan system.
34:24I think Juwan Jennings was a product of the Kyle Shanahan system.
34:28And there's a reason why Juwan Jennings, you know, the 49ers, like, never even came close to giving him the contract that he wanted.
34:36And also that he lingered on the free agent market for a really, really long time.
34:41I can't remember what his guaranteed money is. Yeah, not going close.
34:45I think he'll make the team. Yeah, look up his guaranteed money.
34:48I think he'll make the team. But I was never drafting him or anything.
34:53I know that some people were drafting Juwan Jennings.
34:56Yeah. I'm not worried about him. I mean, not only did the 49ers not want Juwan Jennings back, but the NFL didn't really want Juwan Jennings.
35:04It was a one-year $13 million, max value of $13 million, but only $6 million guaranteed there for Juwan Jennings on that one year.
35:12Okay, yeah. So $4.5 million signing bonus. Juwan Jennings is going to be on the roster.
35:17I just don't think that he's going to make a big impact, you know, whatsoever in the box score.
35:23Agreed. All right, let's get to some of the more preseason usage notes here.
35:28This is story number 11. Confirmation for us here, Evan, but it was good to see that the Packers in their first
35:35preseason game were in a three-wide receiver set on seven of Jordan Love's nine snaps, and there was no heavy rotation.
35:42Matthew Golden played nine. Christian Watson played eight. Jaden Reed was slot only, as expected.
35:47He played seven. And then Savion Williams played one.
35:50So there was really no rotation. They were in three-wide receiver set a lot, and they played their three guys, their three-wide receivers, in almost every snap.
35:58So that was really encouraging. Anything else for you on Packers preseason usage?
36:03Yeah, I think the Packers are clearly transitioning to an 11-personnel, three-receiver offense, and that will be accentuated by the fact that
36:10I think that the Packers are going to play from behind more this season because their defense has really fallen off in
36:17terms of the talent that they have over there.
36:20Micah Parsons is not going to play before week six.
36:23And we've talked ad nauseum about the Packers' offensive line maybe being one of the worst in football this year.
36:30So teams that are playing from behind, they use 11 personnel.
36:33And so that is going to help. Not only are the Packers going to be more committed to 11 personnel as a
36:40base offense, but they're going to be forced into more 11 personnel situations because they're playing from behind.
36:46So this sort of suits all of our narratives that we've been talking about as it relates to the Packers' offense this
36:53year and them streamlining the receiver core to feature three receivers.
36:57We should talk about Tucker Craft and his comments.
37:00Yeah, agreed. I take a lot of the Packers' receivers.
37:03I've been a little bit shakier on Tucker Craft where he goes because of what Evan and I talked about last week,
37:10which was he is a yak guy and he's coming off of a major injury now.
37:15Can he sustain that kind of yak efficiency? And then with the comment that Evan is referring to, Tucker Craft said, he
37:22talked to the media, he said, yeah, I'm getting back in 11-11.
37:26They want to ease me in, you know, they're going to watch my reps or whatever.
37:31It didn't strike me that was like a definite plan.
37:35It was just like, yeah, I know. I'm coming off an ACL.
37:39It is what it is, but dude wants to play.
37:42We didn't really put too much of a doc on him for that, but I personally, I don't know what you think, Evan.
37:49I personally don't think that there's a big gap in that tier between Craft, Laporta, Pitts, Fannin types.
37:55But yeah, what do you think? Yeah, and I think I have that exact same tier.
38:00I have not moved Tucker Craft down. Actually, if you look at the clip that got highlighted when Tucker Craft is talking
38:07about, yeah, maybe they'll use me in for the first part of the season.
38:12Actually, he comes back and he has comments later in the same interview where he's like, yeah, but I'm trying to show
38:19him that I'm capable of being a full-time player week one.
38:23So I'm sure that they gave him some sort of tentative plan, but if he's out there balling, I mean, the Packers need to win games.
38:31They're going to need to score points. Again, because of that defense, Tucker Craft can block too.
38:36He will help on their offensive line. I'm not moving Tucker Craft at all based on those comments.
38:42I understand it raises a little bit of awareness, but if you watch the entire interview, it's not like some definite thing.
38:49Yeah, last Packers note for me. So Josh Jacobs has a groin issue, a minor one.
38:55He's going to be back soon, but he did not play in the preseason game.
38:59More importantly, though, the NFL announced a bunch of suspensions last Friday.
39:03They were mostly all defensive guys, I believe. But either way, Josh Jacobs was not among the announcements.
39:09So we're getting pretty close now. It's August 17th.
39:12We have been ticking up Josh Jacobs in the ETR ranks.
39:16We're up to 31 overall now on Josh Jacobs.
39:19Like, if he doesn't get suspended, he's going to be a value because he's been going in the 40s.
39:25You know, he's going to be a value there.
39:28I don't know how high I want to get on Josh Jacobs.
39:32But Evan, have you thought about ticking Jacobs back up here in the top 150?
39:36Not really. They also, the NFL also did not announce a suspension for Puka Nakua.
39:41And that has been highly speculated on. I don't know.
39:45I'm still kind of waiting. I'm still kind of waiting to see how this goes with Josh Jacobs.
39:50He's not 100%. He's coming off a bad year, and he remains at risk of suspension.
39:56So he's not a player that I want the people using my rankings to be drafting right now.
40:01Yep. Even though it seems like maybe he could be a decent value.
40:06I don't know. It's still, I'd rather draft somebody else in the fourth round.
40:10Yeah, and that's totally fair. And the other bad thing for Josh Jacobs is Marshawn Lloyd is healthy and balling.
40:17You know? The yeet cannon. Yeah. So, yeah. All right.
40:20Preseason usage continued here. Story 12. Isaiah likely only played six of 14 snaps with Jackson Dart.
40:25Theo Johnson played seven. Chris Manhurts played five. Isaiah likely has had an ADP around 110 pretty much all summer.
40:32We have been two to three rounds behind that ADP in our rankings all summer.
40:37Not just concerned over snaps for us, but like on a per-route basis, Isaiah likely just has not been that great in
40:44his career, which I'm not sure that everyone realizes.
40:47So, Evan, how concerned are you about this Isaiah likely usage in the preseason game, if at all?
40:53Well, I don't love it, obviously. And Isaiah likely had sort of started to creep up in drafts.
40:58I have him at 129, so I'm well behind everybody on him.
41:02But he had started to creep up, I had noticed, especially on FFPC where it's tight end premium, because he was getting a lot of positive camp reviews.
41:11With Malik neighbors only in individual drills, the reports were that Isaiah likely has been like the number one target of Jackson Dart.
41:19And look, we could go to the second preseason game.
41:22This does happen a decent amount. We're like, all right, the first preseason game, it looks real shaky.
41:28And then the second week and then, you know, maybe the third week, like Isaiah likely is out there with Jackson Dart the entire time.
41:36But, I mean, yeah, this sends up a red flag, a situation that we need to closely monitor for the rest of the preseason.
41:44Yeah, and we didn't have a move here because this was kind of expected.
41:48We're at 132 overall on likely. Again, Silva is at 129 overall on Isaiah likely.
41:53Last thing on likely for me, like, oh, Harbaugh, like, he had him in Baltimore.
41:58If he thought likely was some great player, play him more.
42:02You know, I understand Mark Andrews was there, but, like, it wasn't like Harbaugh had some great inclination to release the cannons on Isaiah likely before this.
42:10So, yeah. And Matt Nagy is the offensive coordinator, which is another reason if you don't like likely to avoid him.
42:17All right. Story 13, small one here, but I thought it was notable that Don Kincaid played in 12 ahead of Jackson Hawes.
42:25And then when they were in 11, the build were with the starting group.
42:29He split that spot with Dawson Knox. So, Knox played the most snap.
42:33Kincaid was there, and Hawes was well behind. Not perfect usage, but I thought good usage.
42:38And most importantly, the PCL finally appears to be behind Don Kincaid.
42:42Again, like, the entire offseason program, all of training camp.
42:46He's playing a preseason game. Like, this is stuff that wouldn't have always happened with Dalton Kincaid since he had that knee injury.
42:53So, I thought really positive on that. Evan, any thoughts on the Kincaid stuff for you?
42:58Yeah. Yeah. I'm, like, really excited about Dalton Kincaid.
43:01You know, I think that Leone has made a really good case for Dalton Kincaid this year.
43:07And, I mean, I did a show with J.J.
43:10Zacharisen. He made a great case for Dalton Kincaid this year that really, because of how efficient Dalton Kincaid has been, I
43:17mean, his yards per route run stuff is just insane over the past couple years while playing through the PCL injury.
43:23But, you know, the Bills didn't trust him to stay healthy.
43:27They don't trust him to block either. And he's never going to be a true full-time player.
43:33But if we can just get him to come up a little bit in terms of his on-field participation, which it seems
43:40like the Bills are ready to do with Dalton Kincaid, this guy was a first-round pick in the draft.
43:46I mean, that has become more common in recent years for tight ends to go in the first round.
43:52But, I mean, you know, it's still not that common.
43:55And Dalton Kincaid is a first-round caliber receiving tight end.
43:58So, I actually moved him. I think Leone has him at tight end 10.
44:03Yeah, we're at tight end 10 in the ETR ranks, yes.
44:07Yeah, I leapfrogged you guys. I took Dalton Kincaid all the way up to tight end 9.
44:12So, I'm ready to go to the mattresses on Dalton Kincaid this year.
44:16Out of the tight ends that go after the tier that I just described, the Kraft, Pitts, Fanon, and Tier, the one
44:23most likely or who has the best chance to finish as, like, a top 3 or top 4 tight end is Kincaid.
44:31Like, clearly. So, him and Kittle, to me, are the best later-round tight ends.
44:35And, yeah. Dalton Kincaid, if you're drafting two tight ends, obviously, FFPC, best ball.
44:40He's, like, the biggest upside tight end, too, that you can freaking imagine.
44:44I mean, you know, he's playing with Josh Allen.
44:47Again, super, super efficient, healthy, doesn't really – I know, you know, some people are talking about DJ Moore.
44:53Not really worried about DJ Moore. I think that if Dalton Kincaid is at 100% and appears that he is, Dalton Kincaid
45:00can lead the Bills in receiving this year over DJ Moore.
45:04Yep. Story 14. Joe Burrow played 13 snaps. It was 9 for Chase Brown, 4 for Samajay Pirine.
45:09I don't want to worry here. I still like Chase Brown a lot.
45:14I think he's an awesome second-round pick again. I just want to note this is a similar issue to what we saw last season.
45:21Samajay Pirine being just annoying enough to matter, like, playing a little bit too much for my liking.
45:27And it's not only 3rd and 10, 3rd and 8.
45:30Pirine was getting some base stuff last year, and he was getting it again.
45:35Now, maybe it doesn't matter. It probably doesn't matter.
45:38Like, Chase Brown is so good as a receiver.
45:41Joe Burrow is an elite thrower of the football to the running back position.
45:45They like Chase Brown at the goal line. He's been effective.
45:49But, yeah, I just want to note this because people are going to be, like, watching the games and be like, see,
45:56I told you guys, Samajay Pirine is out there a lot.
46:00It is what it is. Evan, any thoughts on this one?
46:03I think it's expected. Yeah. Last year, Chase Brown still had 69 receptions.
46:07You know, again, the Bengals have done just so little, really nothing, to address their tight end and their number three receiver
46:14positions over the past few years behind Jamar Chase and T.
46:18Higgins. And, really, the biggest detriment to Chase Brown's sort of uneven season last year, obviously, was the quarterback play.
46:25Even when they went from Jake Brown, even when they got Joe Flacco in there, you know, Chase Brown was revitalized.
46:31He's going to crush with Joe Burrow. So, I don't want to nitpick Chase Brown too much.
46:37I think he's a worthy one-two turn pick and pretty much anywhere in the second round, smashing that button on Chase Brown.
46:44Yeah. If you want to go back and relive the Bengals season, the quarterback show on Netflix right now is following Joe Flacco.
46:51It is fascinating. Like, they show Flacco leaving the Browns, going to the Bengals, learning the playbook in two days, and going
46:59out and starting a bunch of games and throwing for, like, 400 yards and five touchdowns.
47:04Like, it's awesome. Highly recommend that. And, yeah, you can see they were so dead until Burrow got, until Flacco got there.
47:11Story 15. Our guy, De'Jon Stribling, went off in the preseason game.
47:15Seven catches, 63 yards on just 22 snaps. Now, Purdy didn't play.
47:19Mac Jones didn't play. It was all 49ers backups, and they were playing the Titans.
47:23But this did nothing to slow down the hype on De'Jon Stribbling.
47:27Silva has made a rank change here going from wide receiver 50 to wide receiver 44 on Stribbling.
47:33Evan, any more thoughts on 49ers wide receivers? Yeah, 93rd overall.
47:37And it's just, again, and we talked about this on man versus machine.
47:41One of the reasons that I really like Mike Evans, who, by the way, is not injured people.
47:47He's literally practicing, catching touchdowns in practice. There's something like he's – people think he's hurt.
47:52He's not hurt. It's a sub-station FUD. Yeah, that's got to be what it is.
47:57Mike Evans is healthy, but then Ricky Pearsall is gone.
48:00You know, Juwan Jennings obviously is gone. Christian McCaffrey is 30 and dealing with tightness.
48:05George Kittle is 33 – or he'll turn 33 in October coming off the torn Achilles.
48:10So, you know, the opportunity is really there for De'Jon Stribbling.
48:14It's just – it feels like how fragile the 49ers skill position core is.
48:18There's just a lot of opportunity there in a highly efficient offense with really good quarterback play.
48:24And Stribbling has been impressive every step of the way, 33rd pick in the draft.
48:29You know, I want him at a spot in my top 150 where drafters have a chance to get him despite the
48:36fact that his ADP is, like, skyrocketing. So I have him at 93rd overall right now.
48:41And you have a chance to get De'Jon Stribbling right now with your wide receiver five.
48:46I'm taking that chance. Yeah, I mean, he still goes in the 120s pretty consistently here.
48:51So, yeah, 93, you definitely can get Stribbling. And it's hard for, I think, like, the automated stuff, the modeling stuff to
48:58capture Stribbling because I think one of the big positives for him is it's all old guys around him.
49:05And, like, the contingent value is so high if any of CMC, Evans, or Kittle get hurt.
49:10And then it's also kind of hard to capture, like, if this guy is any good at all, Ka Shanahan will find it in him.
49:18He found it in Jordan Mason. He found it in Juwan Jennings.
49:22Like, he finds it in these guys. And so, yeah, if he's good, I think Ka Shanahan will find it and he'll have his chance.
49:30So I do like Stribbling better than the model base rank right now against Silva is at 93 overall.
49:36Story 16, Jaden Blue, 20 of 26 first half snaps for the Cowboys in that preseason game.
49:42Phil Mafa rotated in a little bit. Malik Davis comes in after.
49:46I thought it was a good thing for Blue.
49:49You know, maybe he didn't play particularly well, but it was a sign that the staff has confidence in him, trusts him
49:56much more than last year, and he's ahead of Phil Mafa.
49:59You know, I think there's a smallish standalone role here, maybe more if Blue plays well.
50:04But at least we know he's ahead for now.
50:07Evan, any thoughts on Cowboys backfield coming out of the preseason game?
50:11Jaden Blue is one of the most exciting, you know, actual backup running backs in the NFL at this point.
50:18Right. And an exciting RB5, RB6 fantasy pick who scored it.
50:21And he had an insane, at Texas, he had an insane touchdown to touch ratio.
50:26He's just a playmaker, man. He's got those natural gifts and you just want him to show a little bit of maturity.
50:33He didn't show that as a rookie. And it seems like he has shown that so far in this training camp.
50:40The Cowboys are really propping him up. They want him to be that change of pace back, you know, home run hitter,
50:47home run hitter, the lightning to Javante Williams thunder.
50:50And it seems like he's, you know, he's passing the test so far.
50:54I was thinking like a Keaton Mitchell type role for Jaden Blue where he's the change of pace guy.
51:00But then if the starter goes down, if Javante goes down, we likely see Malik Davis or someone like that in more of the base role.
51:09And Jaden Blue in an expanded change of pace role.
51:12So not the cleanest handcuff, but I definitely think like some standalone value and just put talented guys on your bench and see what happens.
51:20Story 17. Rondé Gadsden in this game, in the preseason game for the Chargers, played at 27 snaps.
51:26Charlie Kolar and David Njoku rested with all other starters.
51:29I mean, I don't want to like freak out and panic on Rondé Gadsden who showed things at the tight end position
51:36that not a lot of other tight ends in the league can do.
51:41But gosh, this is really scary right now. We have gone really low on Gadsden in the rankings.
51:46Evan, any thoughts on how much to panic here?
51:49Sort of echoing what we've been hearing from the B-Riders so far at Chargers training camp that Rondé Gadsden is now the
51:57Chargers fairly clear cut number three tight end and no longer draftable.
52:00I did think that there was a possibility that Mike McDaniel would really like Rondé Gadsden because he has, you know, a lot of theoretical big playability.
52:09He has big playability. But, you know, they're rolling with the veterans.
52:13Charlie Kolar and David Njoku and Rondé Gadsden has been sort of pushed aside, unfortunately.
52:18I mean, he's been a blown fantasy pick so far.
52:21Yeah, I think the way that he's going to be used is like in a Mike Gasicki type role.
52:27These very obvious passing situations where they want to have a specialized package for Gadsden to get on the field.
52:34Beyond that, it's hard to see him getting enough snaps here to be relevant.
52:38Story 18. So, Titans starters played 22 snaps in their preseason game.
52:42Snaps were Tajie Spears 13, Tony Pollard 9. Now, Pollard did pop up with a foot injury today.
52:48So, maybe that had something to do with it.
52:51I didn't really read too much into this. I just kind of thought that they wanted to use both guys.
52:57But there's also some part of me that thinks maybe Dayball came in and thinks that these guys are closer to 1A, 1B than I did before.
53:06So, I don't have a great read on Titans running back right now.
53:10Evan, any thoughts on this spot? I don't either.
53:13I don't really have a whole lot of optimism about it either.
53:17I don't have a whole lot of optimism about the Titans offense as a whole.
53:22Of course, Brandon Thorne ranked their offensive line as the worst in the league again.
53:27Again, I don't want to read into preseason performance very much.
53:30But Cam Ward didn't show a whole lot in the Titans preseason opener after a pretty rough rookie season.
53:37So, for me, I don't know. Wondell Robinson. And then I kind of don't want any other Titans.
53:42Yeah. I mean, the whole situation makes me queasy.
53:45You know, and from a projection standpoint, like, it's hard not to give Tony Pollard a lot of touches.
53:51But the offensive line is so bad. Quarterback play, I don't know.
53:55Maybe Nick Singleton gets some work at some point if they're out of it.
54:00You know, Spears could be closer to Pollard than we think.
54:03How many touchdowns is this team going to score?
54:06You know, there's a lot of red flags around Titans backfield right now.
54:11I'm trying to draft around it a little bit.
54:14Story 19 is Jets slot role. So, we know Garrett Wilson and A.D.
54:18Mitchell are locked in on the outside. Omar Cooper reportedly had the slot role and then got outplayed by Isaiah Williams.
54:25And now Isaiah Williams appears ahead. Now, Omar Cooper was the 30th overall pick in the draft.
54:30Isaiah Williams has been cut by three teams in the NFL.
54:34I don't expect this to last long, but I think it means at least something.
54:38Evan, what do you think about Omar Cooper and Jets wide receiver right now?
54:43I didn't have Omar Cooper in the top 150 previously.
54:46So, it didn't really, you know, make a dent in what I've been doing.
54:51But I just say that it's a little red flaggy on Omar Cooper, who was a polarizing prospect.
54:57Some people didn't think he belonged anywhere near the first round of the draft.
55:01The Jets took him there and now he's behind Isaiah Williams.
55:05I mean, that's not great. It could turn out to be nothing.
55:09Yeah. Yeah. You know, it could be, it could turn out to be, I mean, not that I'm comparing Omar Cooper to
55:16freaking Justin Jefferson, but it could turn out to be an Ola Bisi situation.
55:20You know, next week or by the third week of the preseason, Omar Cooper's right back in there.
55:26But, you know, I don't want anything to do with him in fantasy or Isaiah Williams for that matter.
55:32It's just crowded. Like, you don't normally say this about the Jets, but if they're going to use Sadiq on the inside,
55:39Cooper on the inside, Williams on the inside, you have Mitchell and Garrett Wilson earning targets.
55:45You have Brees Hall earning targets. Like, it's just crowded.
55:48And so, we're at 187 overall on Cooper. That has to be the lowest we've ever been on a first round wide receiver.
55:55Like, 187 overall on Omar Cooper. Guy went in the first round of the draft.
56:00I mean, it's tough. Last one for me on preseason observations.
56:04Caleb Douglas played 14 of 14 snaps with Malik Willis on Friday night.
56:08Malik Washington, 12 snaps. Jalen Rager, two. So, it was Tolbert and Atwell and Taj Washington.
56:13They came in after. So, I think it justified to people that Caleb Douglas, who has been one of camp's biggest stars.
56:20By the way, he's up 30 spots in the last month.
56:24That Caleb Douglas is a starter and locked in every down player for this team.
56:29Evan, any thoughts on that spot? Just a lot of opportunity in Miami.
56:33And, you know, a situation where just everything's up for grabs.
56:36So, a guy like Caleb Douglas, who was a big recruit to Florida, got hurt, went to Texas Tech and kind of tore it up.
56:44You know, and then goes in with the third round of the draft.
56:49I mean, he's got just as good of a chance as anybody else to be, you know, the Dolphins' top receiver this year.
56:56I mean, it's just a total free-for-all there. So, yeah.
56:59I mean, a situation where it's one. I think at the end of the day, there's not going to be a ton
57:06of passing in production in Miami this year because of the identity of their quarterback and the way that they want to
57:14play behind that massive offensive line they poured a ton of resources into.
57:18But, yeah, I mean, Caleb Douglas, interesting flyer. You know, if I had him in a dynasty league, I'd be kind of excited.
57:25Yeah, I mean, Caleb Douglas was a big-time prospect coming out of high school.
57:30He had offers from LSU, Notre Dame, Texas. Ended up going to Florida.
57:34Barely played. Transfers to Texas Tech and was solid.
57:37Then goes to the combine, you know, 6-3, 2-0-6.
57:40Ran a 4-3-9. But my bigger point on guys like Caleb Douglas and Malachi Fields and guys like this is, like, we
57:47know that Tutu Atwell and Jalen Tolbert and these guys are dust.
57:51We know that Darnell Mooney and Darius Slayton are dust.
57:54I don't know if Caleb Douglas and Malachi Fields are good, but they might be.
57:59We don't know. At least, like, the other guys we know are dust.
58:03So, that's why I take Fields and Caleb late in drafts.
58:07Last note on Miami here. Chris Bell, speaking of peptides, I don't want to accuse anyone, but speaking of peptides, Chris Bell
58:14already activated off of the injury list here. He was reportedly, to the Prospect Bros, a first-round talent before the injury.
58:21So, anything there for you, Evan, on Chris Bell?
58:24Just a guy that I'll be monitoring, you know.
58:26Again, everything's up for grabs in the Miami pass catcher core, really.
58:30I mean, even, you know, Greg Dolcich, who has seemed like the one maybe staple, he's not playing a lot in the preseason.
58:38Although, that's not terribly surprising for a guy of his skill set.
58:42He's like literally Mike Giusecchi 2.0. But, yeah, I'll be interested to see if Chris Bell can get into some preseason action.
58:49I think that that would be fun. One thing for the season-long stuff is some leagues have an IR spot.
58:55If you have an IR spot and you can use that, obviously guys like Chris Bell are going to make more sense than they would otherwise.
59:04But, yeah, maybe you can find a better guy to use your IR spot on.
59:09I don't know. Okay. A couple small ranking changes here.
59:12Actually, just two of them. That Evan made not related to news.
59:16First one, Silva moves Jacory Krosky-Meritt in the rankings from running back 43 to running back 36.
59:21Silva, what was your rationale behind the bump on JCM?
59:24I just was going through my rankings and looked at it, and he was too low.
59:30Because it seems clear that Jacory Krosky-Meritt, despite his array of shortcomings as a player, is the fairly clear-cut lead back right now in Washington.
59:38Katron Allen got a ton of work. I actually thought he looked decent.
59:42I mean, he looked like Katron Allen in the preseason opener.
59:46He got 23 touches or carry. I mean, he got a ton of work, but that's not necessarily a good sign.
59:52I think the JCM is the commander's fairly clear-cut lead back, and therefore he deserves at least some draft consideration, although at
59:59the end of the day, I'm not super excited about him.
60:03Yeah, Silva's at 99 overall on JCM. We're actually a little bit higher in the ETR ranks.
60:08We bumped him a little bit also lately, 90th overall for us in the ETR ranks.
60:14Last one here, old friend, Jake Ferguson, Silva removed.
60:17The ultimate insult, removed from the top 150 was Jake Ferguson.
60:20Evan, talk to the people about that one. I just think that Jake Ferguson, and he did pay off his ADP last
60:27year when I was high on him, but I mean, I think he was exposed as a fairly, you know, one of
60:34the least efficient tight ends in the NFL. Haven't heard really any positive camp buzz on him.
60:40Have heard positive camp buzz on Ryan Flournoy. So I'm just, you know, in that third receiving position for the Cowboys, I'm
60:47a little bit more bullish on Ryan Flournoy than I am on Jake Ferguson.
60:52I mean, Ferguson, he's just going to be a touchdown or bust guy on a week-to-week basis, and you could get those guys off the waiver wire.
61:00Jake Ferguson doesn't need to be in the top 150.
61:04Yeah, I mean, there's not a lot of difference for me between Ferguson and, say, Mark Andrews or Juwan Johnson, guys like that.
61:11And I also... I think Juwan Johnson's got a little bit more juice.
61:15Yeah. I also say there has been some camp hype around Brevin Spanford, Cowboys tight end, which obviously wouldn't be great.
61:22Massive dude, yeah. Ferguson there either. All right. That is going to do it for news and ranking changes here this week.
61:29Coming up rest of the week, we will have a show on running back strategy, one of the most important things that
61:36we need to get right this year. We will have a show on overall draft strategy for this season, and then a
61:43$2,200 buy-in FFPC main event draft with myself, Leone, and Silva later this week.
61:48We did this last year. You can go back and watch the video we did or the draft we did last year, FFPC.
61:55People hated our team. It had a legit chance to win.
61:59I mean, we advanced out of our league. We got a bunch of money back, and we were in like 10th place
62:06going into the last week or the second to last week or something like that.
62:11So be sure you are subscribed to YouTube to catch all of those shows.
62:15Four, Evan, Bruce or Ryan, Bruce or Luke. I am Adam.
62:19Good luck, everybody.