NFL Preseason Week 3 Takeaways: Josh Jacobs Fallout, Aaron Donald Returns + Stock Watch (Ep. 2165)
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
1 hr
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 1, 2026
Published
Tue, September 1, 2026
18
Player insights
16
Players mentioned
Topics
Jadarian PriceZach CharbonnetBaker MayfieldChris BellDeshaun WatsonDeVonta SmithJ.J. McCarthyJoe MiltonJordan LoveJosh JacobsJustin HerbertLadd McConkeyMakai LemonMarShawn Lloyd
Player analysis
Player insights
Baker Mayfield
PositiveValue42:30
The source suggests Baker Mayfield is an undervalued asset who could potentially be the Steelers' quarterback next year, noting that Tampa Bay's refusal to commit to a long-term deal and his desire for revenge against Cleveland make him a compelling narrative and potential future starter.
Insight pageChris Bell
PositiveBreakout53:30
The source recommends a 'stock up' on Chris Bell, noting his immediate target volume (five targets in the first 10 minutes) upon returning from injury and his usage across multiple receiver spots, suggesting he could emerge as the primary target in a thin Dolphins receiving corps.
Insight pageDeshaun Watson
NegativeBust63:32
The source predicts Watson will fail as the Browns' starter within four to five weeks, leading the team to turn to other quarterback options on their roster.
Insight pageDeVonta Smith
PositiveUsage56:48
The source notes that Eagles preseason usage suggests Smith will play significant snaps in the slot, making the offense more interchangeable and unpredictable under the new play-calling scheme.
Insight pageJ.J. McCarthy
NegativeProjection48:58
The source argues that McCarthy is not currently a better starting option than Joe Milton, suggesting he needed two to three years of development and currently lacks the touch and catchable ball placement that Milton displays.
Insight pageJadarian Price
PositiveBreakout33:46
With Zach Charbonnet on the PUP list, Jadarian Price has a significant opportunity to seize the Seahawks' backfield role early in the season and potentially relegate Charbonnet to a backup role upon his return.
Insight pageNegativeUsage35:02
The source expects Price to see significant touches, potentially 12-18 per game, as he is viewed as the most explosive back on the roster. While there is concern about him losing goal-line work to Helani or Emmanuel Wilson, the expectation is that he will earn the lead role due to superior performance.
Insight pageJoe Milton
PositiveValue45:06
The source expresses shock that the Cowboys cut Milton after a strong preseason (29-for-43, 200+ yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs). He is described as having the strongest arm in the league and is considered a better immediate starter than J.J. McCarthy by the analysts.
Insight pageJordan Love
PositiveUsage5:09
The Packers are expected to shift toward a more pass-heavy offensive approach in the absence of Josh Jacobs. The source suggests the team may finally 'turn Jordan Love loose' after ranking 31st and 22nd in pass rate over expected in previous seasons.
Insight pageJosh Jacobs
NegativeUsage1:42
Josh Jacobs has been placed on the commissioner's exempt list following a domestic violence-related incident involving video evidence. The source notes this is a potential 'death blow' to his season, with uncertainty regarding whether he will play at all, potentially missing anywhere from eight to 16 games depending on the severity of the video.
Insight pageJustin Herbert
PositiveProjection43:59
The source projects a significant breakout for Justin Herbert, anticipating he will move away from his 8.2 aDOT (33rd in the league last year) toward a high-flying, deep-ball-heavy role under the new offensive scheme, potentially leading the NFL in passing yards or contending for MVP.
Insight pageLadd McConkey
NegativeUsage45:02
The source expresses skepticism that Ladd McConkey will command a massive 29% target share as he did in college, viewing him more as a slot-based receiver who can stretch the field but will be part of a more distributed passing attack.
Insight pageMakai Lemon
PositiveBreakout55:40
The source highlights Lemon as a sneaky rookie breakout candidate. Despite a hamstring injury and personality concerns, his usage in the final preseason game (playing both slot and outside) suggests he will be a key part of an unpredictable Eagles offense. His hands are described as 'suction cups'.
Insight pageMarShawn Lloyd
PositiveRole3:59
With Josh Jacobs sidelined, Marshawn Lloyd is expected to become an integral part of the Packers' offense. Despite previous injury concerns, Lloyd is viewed as a talented back who was a favorite of draft analysts like Daniel Jeremiah and has received strong buzz in training camp.
Insight pageMatthew Stafford
NegativeProjection25:43
Despite his age and potential back issues, Matthew Stafford remains an efficient quarterback leading a high-powered Rams offense. The source notes that his primary risk factor is a season-ending injury, as the team's backup quarterback situation is unproven.
Insight pageQuentin Johnston
PositiveBreakout44:55
The source highlights Quentin Johnston as a player in line for a bigger year than previously expected, noting his ability to serve as a deep-play threat in the Chargers' new, more aggressive passing offense, evidenced by a 60-yard deep catch in the preseason.
Insight pageZach Charbonnet
NegativeInjury33:28
Zach Charbonnet has been placed on the PUP list and will miss at least the first four games of the season. The source notes that his recovery from a mid-February surgery made a Week 1 return unrealistic.
Insight pageNegativeInjury34:06
The source suggests Charbonnet's recovery from a mid-February surgery makes a Week 1 return unrealistic. He will likely be eased in upon return, with a realistic expectation of being a full contributor by Thanksgiving or potentially Halloween if he progresses like Chris Bell's ACL recovery.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. The availability varies.
0:03Terms apply. Cancel any time. It's the tailgate. I'm Chris Welsh.
0:06That's Pat Fitzmaurice, Scott Bogman in the house. And today we are breaking down the final bit of the preseason.
0:13Preseason behind us. Get the hell out of here.
0:15We don't want you anymore. But we are going to be taking a look at, you know, the big changes we're pulling out.
0:22At least one big change out of the preseason.
0:25We are going to be looking at a couple players that did stock rise up off of Week 3 of the preseason, how that carries into the season.
0:34And really, the biggest piece is a ton of the crazy stuff that has gone on about the last four or five
0:41days in the NFL that's setting us all the big latest news.
0:44That's what we got. So sit back. Rock with us.
0:47Talk and tailgate here. Mr. Pat Fitzmaurice, Green Bay Packers have some craziness going down with them.
0:53We're going to just jump right into it here.
0:55The biggest news that dominated the weekend. And really, the week leading up was this little progressive storyline of Josh Jacobs.
1:02Josh Jacobs, of course, we knew that there was this, you know, this issue going on that was kind of looming.
1:08And what was that going to have as far as suspension or would it be pushed to next year?
1:14Then some podcasts start to relay some information. Then we find out there's a video.
1:19And then finally, slapped with the exempt list. And that is kind of the death blow of seeing Josh Jacobs this season.
1:26We have absolutely no idea if he's going to play rumors of full season, rumors of him staying on the exempt list,
1:32maybe until the court date is settled in here.
1:35So talk to us about your initial reactions. And do you think we're going to see Josh Jacobs this year?
1:41That's so hard to tell. There's such a varied history with the exempt list.
1:46I mean, we saw Adrian Peterson miss almost a whole season.
1:49I think he was on the exempt list for 15 games we've seen.
1:53I forgot about that. Yeah. Great. And the same year, Greg Hardy was another case.
1:58And I believe that was domestic violence related to and he was on the commissioner exemplus and basically missed the season.
2:04So that was 12 years ago. And then we've seen cases where guys were just on it for days.
2:10Tayshaun Gibson was on it for four days related to a PED thing.
2:14Jabril Peppers was on for a month and a half.
2:17Michael Hall Jr. just over a month. So really hard to tell.
2:21I don't know if it's the video is just so damning that that's if the video is super damning.
2:27I think he probably misses the whole season. But is this a case of the NFL just maybe buying themselves more time to make a decision?
2:35Really hard to tell. But interesting to maybe think about the ramifications for the Packers.
2:39Obviously, Marshawn Lloyd goes from this guy who can't stay healthy to now an integral part of the Green Bay offense.
2:46They trade for Caleb Johnson from Scott Bogman's Pittsburgh Steelers, who couldn't get out of the doghouse after failing to field that
2:52kickoff against Seattle in week two of 2025, leading to a touchdown for the Seahawks.
2:57So they've got him. They've got Chris Brooks. They've got Pierre Strong.
3:01And maybe they just throw a whole lot more this year after being, I think, the last two years, 31st and 22nd in pass rate over expected.
3:09Maybe they just turned Jordan Love loose this year.
3:12Yeah, there's a lot of webs to like what this ultimately is going to be spun up for.
3:17One of the notes that came out, as we're recording this, is that the GM of the Packers said they have not
3:24seen the video yet, which might also be telling potentially about some of their reactions around Josh Jacobs.
3:30And, you know, we heard early on, like coaching being like, oh, yeah, we expect Jacobs here.
3:35And it's hard to tell without us seeing the video.
3:38Obviously, I think the NFL has seen that video for to throw him on the exempt list.
3:43But Boggs, it's a really it's it's an unknown situation.
3:46Like, how do we how do we navigate this?
3:49You know, Packer fans, I think that is probably the the adjustment that's going to happen.
3:54They're going to lean on Brooks and Marshall and Lloyd to whatever degree of success they're going to find.
4:00But ultimately, what that might end up doing is having this be a really pass heavy team.
4:05Do you think they are going to be successful, though, trying to deviate?
4:09Because this feels like the type of team that's going to continue to not try to let their game plan be changed because of Jacobs being gone.
4:17But if they find a lack of success with Lloyd and Brooks and then they're altered into having to be more of a pass heavy team.
4:25What do you think that's going to do to the Packers for this coming season?
4:30Yeah, I think obviously it hampers the offense, right?
4:33We know Josh Jacobs is all reliable back there in the backfield.
4:36So to not have him is going to hurt a lot.
4:40I do think they're going to pass way more, like Fitzy said.
4:43And I think you just kind of have to because you don't have Jacobs back there.
4:48You have Marshall and Lloyd, a guy that is not lasted in the NFL.
4:53Maybe that stuff's behind him. Obviously went to the injury camp or whatever it was in the offseason.
4:58And then you have just a lack of experience behind those guys.
5:02I mean, Pierre Strong has been in the NFL for a long time.
5:06Chris Brooks has been with Packers, what, three seasons?
5:09Something like that, Fitzy. And Caleb Johnson just came over this week.
5:12So I think we are going to see a lot more Jordan love.
5:16But you know what? Let's go ahead and send Fitzy there on Sunday to Lambeau to see what's going on.
5:23Yeah. Fitzy, why don't you go ahead and check that out at Lambeau?
5:27Yeah, what's the weather like in Lambeau right now?
5:29It's not snow yet, is it? Not yet. In fact, it's really humid.
5:33But it should be nice for that Notre Dame-Wisconsin game that I will be attending on Sunday night at Lambeau.
5:40Yeah. Oh, there you go. No, you know, you're going to be looking at Josh Jacobs, right?
5:45You're going to be looking into that, not drinking beers and watching the football.
5:49And by the way, this whole thing about Brian Gutekunst saying that he does not have the video of this thing.
5:56It's his own player's home surveillance video. He could get that if he wanted to, or he could at least ask Josh Jacobs to provide him with that.
6:04So I feel like that's kind of a dodge.
6:07Like either he doesn't want to know what's on the video or actually.
6:11It smells a little bit like, like you got it, but no, we're not going to have it until everybody in the
6:18public sees it because of how the reactions are.
6:20Well said it perfectly when you said, you know, they may be just delaying until they see the video.
6:26I think that's what the NFL is doing. I don't know if the NFL has that footage yet, but you can watch
6:33my face change live from last Friday at Q&A.
6:36Wells was talking about it with me the other day where I didn't like about an hour before I got on.
6:42They announced that there was video of this and I was on with Alfredo doing a Q&A and he was talking about it.
6:49You can watch my whole demeanor change on Josh Jacobs because I didn't know.
6:54He's talking about it and I was telling him it was like from Interstellar and I was Matthew McConaughey just screaming.
7:00I was like, Bogman, no, because Bogman's sitting there being like, well, you know, my opinion will change if they have video of this.
7:08And I'm like, there's video. There is video. And then Alfredo broke it to Bogman.
7:12Come on, Bogman. Yeah, it's rough. Let me ask this one then.
7:16Pat, do you think Marshawn Lloyd can be the Jonathan Brooks prince that was promised?
7:20Like everything that we're putting on a guy like Jonathan, by the way, Jonathan Brooks came up a little bit lame in practice today.
7:28Might not be anything. But like everything that we've looked at with Jonathan Brooks this season, I mean, it's a little bit
7:35different, I guess, because we've seen a couple snaps of Marshawn Lloyd.
7:38But there's a lot of big hyper focus on like what he is and there's still Chuba there.
7:44Do you think Marshawn Lloyd is talented enough to I'm using Jonathan Brooks as an example is, I guess, both like talented guys that have been hurt.
7:52But like, can he, Fitzy, fill the role of what Josh Jacobs is?
7:56Or is this a little bit what I've led to before?
8:00If we are without Josh Jacobs, this team struggles to find an identity in the run game and then they become more pass heavy.
8:07Or are we not giving enough credit to the talent?
8:10Because Marshawn Lloyd in the fantasy space has moved up, but he's still not even cracking like a top 24 back in most people's minds.
8:18So is he talented enough? I'm cautiously optimistic that he is.
8:21I know he was Daniel Jeremiah's favorite running back in the class when he entered the draft.
8:26I know our guy Debro loved him. And the buzz was really strong for him in training camp this year.
8:32And they nicknamed him the Yeet Cannon and just said he was bringing all sorts of pizzazz to the position.
8:39Yeah. And apparently with the injury thing, he kind of did the same thing.
8:43Christian Watson did a few years ago, had a bunch of like studies done on him and they found out it was
8:50the same sort of like muscle imbalance that Christian Watson had.
8:53And they adjusted his training based on that. So I hate having to learn about muscle imbalance, by the way.
8:59Yeah, I know. I know. It's NFL really does give you a little pseudo like medical degree.
9:05Like if you're if you're here enough, you're going to learn about all the injuries and you could just be like, oh, is that the metacarpal?
9:13You know, it's like you really do. I mean, I guess I don't really.
9:17But why is why is it only the Green Bay Packers collecting imbalanced athletes in the draft, too?
9:22But yeah, I mean, I'm cautiously optimistic about him.
9:25But we know Chris Brooks is a solid professional running back who can do the third down stuff and can be used
9:32a little bit on early downs, too, as they have in the past.
9:36And Pierre Strong, like I've seen one thing. There's an outlet called Cheesehead TV for Packers fans, and they are suggesting that
9:43Pierre Strong is probably the backup in week one and not Caleb Johnson.
9:47I like I think when you say that it's like Tim Robinson's corncob TV, and it's just Green Bay Packers falling through caskets or something like that.
9:55You like corncob greenhead cheesehead TV? Boggs, we the thing we kind of glossed over was Caleb Johnson from your Pittsburgh Steelers was traded to Green Bay.
10:03Everyone was kind of writing on the wall as well.
10:06I mean, obviously, like he didn't have a placeholder for that team and maybe his talents in question.
10:12But for Green Bay to go acquire another running back, do you think this is just fresh body, new home, new place?
10:19Or do you think Caleb Johnson actually can be a force?
10:22Because he's probably going to get some opportunity in some capacity this year.
10:26So like what level of like excitement does this trade actually have for Green Bay Packer fans?
10:31I mean, I think it should have a little bit of excitement, right?
10:35Caleb Johnson was completely underutilized by Pittsburgh last season.
10:38And after what exactly what Fitz said, he screwed up a kickoff against Seattle.
10:42The Seahawks ended up beating the Steelers because of that.
10:45And he never got out of Tomlin's doghouse. And then Tomlin retired.
10:49And here comes Mike McCarthy with, you know, his own group of backs that he likes.
10:54And they drafted Eli Heidenreich. Lou Nichols outplayed Caleb Johnson in the preseason.
10:58So and Lou Nichols didn't even make the roster either.
11:01So I do think that Caleb Johnson wasn't really given a fair shake in his first season and a half in Pittsburgh here.
11:08But I do think that he has a great opportunity.
11:11Marshawn Lloyd has been injured a lot. You know, Chris Brooks has never taken a full workload.
11:17Neither is Pierre Strong. So I do think there will be opportunity at some point for Caleb Johnson here.
11:22But he has to earn it because this is a teetering point in his career.
11:27When you get traded like this, it's either going to be you make it with this next team or you're probably going
11:34to get kicked around and be a backup for a while.
11:37So I do think he needs to make the best of this opportunity that he has in front of him.
11:43And he can really shine if he takes his chance and runs with it.
11:48Because I do think that in terms of ceiling on the roster that isn't Jacobs right now, I think Caleb Johnson is
11:54your running back with the highest ceiling on the Packers currently.
11:58OK, so final thing. True or false. Fitzy. Josh Jacobs plays it down in the NFL this year.
12:03I know we don't obviously fully know, but guesstimation on your part.
12:07I'll say true because it would have to be like a Ray Rice level, terrible video for, I think, the NFL to
12:14come down on him any harder than the normal six game suspension for domestic violence.
12:18So, I mean, it would have to be just horrible.
12:22And if it was horrible, why is he only getting charged with two misdemeanors instead of a felony?
12:27True or false. We see Josh Jacobs this year.
12:30I think Fitzy has the right of it. I do.
12:33I think it might be eight games, you know, half the season, just like James Pierce, Scott.
12:38I think it's probably going to be half the season, maybe more, maybe 10 games.
12:43Maybe he peels it down to eight or something like that.
12:46But I do think he ends up playing, like you said, unless this video is way worse than we thought.
12:52Always the most fun thing to talk about before the NFL season when these type of things go down.
12:58Don't love it. Don't love it at all. The other big piece of news, this was like elephant in the room level things that like we all knew.
13:07Rams knew. Aaron Donald knew. We knew. They just didn't write pen to paper.
13:11But it officially happened. Aaron Donald is coming out of retirement and he agreed to a one year, $20 million deal with incentives.
13:18Did the Rams become the Dodgers, by the way?
13:21And that they can just they have funny money here.
13:24A total value of $30 million potential dollars attached to Aaron Donald.
13:28So much around it, they become obviously like the best defensive unit, the best defensive line.
13:33I saw this really interesting narrative and I feel like it's still been a little bit wishy-washy in it.
13:38But in the betting market, Aaron Donald got thrown into comeback player of the year.
13:43But apparently he's not eligible. If you know about this, Fitzy.
13:46From NFL rules, it's saying that he's actually not eligible for coming out of retirement to do comeback player of the year.
13:53Yet we've seen him pop up in some books or something like that.
13:57So that would be kind of a dead bet.
14:00So I don't know. Do you know anything about that?
14:03I do not. I do not. I think that is the one future I would never bet comeback player of the year.
14:10Andrew Erickson is touting a Travis Hunter bet for comeback player of the year award.
14:14Oh, I mean. He got hurt, so he's eligible for it.
14:18But I believe the rule is guys coming back from retirement are not eligible.
14:22Yeah, that's what I said. Okay. That's yeah. Yeah.
14:25I think that is just the official rule. So but if you can slap plus 700 on it, stick it on your website.
14:32I guess. I'm not sure. But this this unit looks absolutely insane.
14:36It is a unit of unit with Garrett and Donald there.
14:39It it is affected, obviously, odds Super Bowl odds in here.
14:42So Fitzy, any thoughts on Aaron Donald coming out of retirement and what this does for this defense?
14:48Is there anything overplayed with it? And do you think this, I don't know, shores up just one more extra piece that
14:55the Rams now become, you know, just a hard, hardcore favorite across the NFL as a Super Bowl contender?
15:01I think that's my takeaway, Welsh, that they are the hardcore favorites now, like far and away.
15:06Um, and maybe they shouldn't be over the team from their own division that beat them and, uh, has the Super Bowl title.
15:13So but boy, I mean, you take what was already a really good team and add Miles Garrett and add Aaron Donald.
15:20And oh, by the way, like it happened before those two things.
15:23So we forget that they poached the Chiefs starting cornerbacks with Trent McDuffie and Jalen Watson.
15:28Like this defense is loaded for bear and to go with the offensive genius of Sean McVay and all the talent on that side of the ball.
15:37Boy, are the Rams scary this year. Yeah, I've been screaming about in the fantasy streets when we talk about Matthew Stafford.
15:43Like I still can understand Matthew Stafford is like now like the 16th quarterback and nothing's changed.
15:49Like he's older and his back is probably a little bit more dicey, but nothing's changed.
15:54And he was so efficient. They have that offense.
15:56But the scariest part about the defensive front now, Boggs, is that Aaron Donald creates the lack of ability for more double teams on Garrett.
16:04Or you're just going to have offensive lines. What?
16:07Double team Donald, double team Garrett. And they're going to have to leave out two more tight ends to cover the rest of the defensive line.
16:15Like if they're running four man fronts out there, Donald makes Garrett even more scary because of the attention he's going to garner unless he's lost a step.
16:23Do you kind of do you buy what I'm selling there?
16:27Oh, yeah. Yeah. And have you ever heard Jason Kelsey talk about who the hardest defender it was for him to play against?
16:34It was Puna Ford. Puna Ford, the nose tackle, because he's short and squatty and got leverage underneath Kelsey.
16:40And that was his specialty was I get, you know, I get the leverage and they can't come after me.
16:46Well, Puna Ford is here in the middle clogging everything up.
16:49Right. For Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald. And by the way, Byron Young is really, really good.
16:55We would be talking about Byron Young if he wasn't on this line with Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald here.
17:01And by the way, Bobby Wagner, still a free agent.
17:04And they've got five million dollars in cap space, apparently.
17:07So they can go add Bobby Wagner and put him in the middle and inside linebacker if they want to.
17:13He can go ring chasing if they want. And like Fitzy said, they added the two corners for Kansas City that made that defense dangerous last year.
17:21Cam Curl took a big step up. Cam Kitchens is going into his third season should take a nice step up as well.
17:28So what's a better defensive line? Scary. Think about what's a better defensive line you guys can recall.
17:34I mean, are you going to throw old like 70 Steelers like the.
17:38I mean, I think that's where you have to go.
17:41Right. Like in recent history, it's been Miles Garrett and TJ Watt have been really good.
17:46Your two best defensive linemen, Willie Anderson. The Texans really have a scary line to fit.
17:51Can you this good? I mean, I went back to like old steel.
17:55Like, is there a defensive line you can recall in recent history?
17:59Dominating defensive tackle Aaron Donald. Miles Garrett. Young. I mean, is there a better defensive line you can think of in the
18:05last 20, 30 years without having to go deeper?
18:08Yeah. I mean, I'm trying to think of the 2000 Ravens.
18:11That was probably the best. If not, you know, the 85 Bears.
18:152000 Ravens were probably the second best defense of my lifetime.
18:19Best since, you know, the turn of the millennium.
18:21But, man, I just like that was also the secondary being so good.
18:25Having Ed Reed back there. Having Ray Lewis at linebacker.
18:28So it wasn't necessarily like great defensive line, too.
18:31But not not like this. Man, I just thought I was like, the 85 Bears.
18:3641 years ago, the 85 Bears are. I mean, it just, I'm a couple years older.
18:41Only a couple years older than that. And I'm like, oh, 30 years.
18:45And I was like, oh, yeah, good call, Fitzy.
18:47The 85 Bears. That's not even 30 years. It's 41 years ago that that was.
18:52Time is a depressing circle bubble. I mean, we haven't seen Aaron Donald play in a couple seasons.
18:58Maybe he's lost a step. Yeah, that's what I was saying.
19:01Like, there's always the chance that, you know, maybe there's a degradation of skills.
19:05And maybe, you know, losing that time. Maybe it's 90% of the workload.
19:09But on paper, you look at that defensive line.
19:12You look at what they've built in the secondary.
19:15If they were to go get a guy like Bobby Wagner, it's like, what's the hole?
19:20Outside of a bunch of aging dudes that might have back problems.
19:24Like, where's the hole? I mean, the 49ers got injury problems.
19:27They're not that old. You know, it's substation. Like, if Stafford had a season-ending injury, that would be the biggest thing.
19:33Because behind him is just Stetson Bennett and Ty Simpson.
19:36But they would probably go trade for Joe Flacco or somebody.
19:40You know what I mean? If that happened. Because the window was kicked wide open here with this squad.
19:46So, you know, backup quarterback is probably the only issue they have.
19:49And they spent a first-round pick on it this year.
19:52All right. A couple other pieces of news and notes.
19:56We were letting it cook a little bit on the news and notes at the front.
20:00Because those are some really big pieces going into this season.
20:04We did get a little bit more clarity in the Seahawks backfield.
20:08Speaking of that Seahawks team with Zach Charbonnet going on the pup.
20:11There were quite a few. We had all the, you know, like, these guys are waves picked up.
20:17Players are put on the pup. I hated to see Tank Dell.
20:20But, you know, the one I think that means the most is for anybody is Jadarian Price.
20:26Because Zach Charbonnet goes on the pup. He's out at least four games.
20:30There's also reports about Helani getting a decent amount of run here.
20:33So, Fitzy, how are you breaking down that situation quickly?
20:36Are you worried about Charbonnet's full season look? Is this full go for Jadarian Price?
20:41Or is Helani really going to get a little bit more run than anybody was expecting?
20:46I think pup makes sense. There were reports that he might be ready for week one and wouldn't have to go on pup.
20:53That seemed pretty unrealistic for Charbonnet considering that he had the surgery, I want to say, in like mid-February.
20:59So, maybe he's ready to go soon after pup.
21:02And it's going to be fascinating to see whether Jadarian Price can just take that job and literally run with it in
21:08the early weeks of the season and turn Charbonnet into a backup.
21:12Or is Price disappointing and maybe Charbonnet comes back as sort of at least the 1A.
21:17If not the lead guy once he's ramped up and, you know, gets a couple of weeks where I'm sure they limit his snaps.
21:24But maybe by Thanksgiving or sooner, he's back to being the main guy.
21:28Like Price is just fascinating for me because he's such a, you know, black box prospect.
21:33You just don't know what you're going to find once you let him roll because he was Jeremiah Love's backup in college.
21:40You know, he was drafted in the first round but kind of pushed up by a, you know, running back needy team
21:47that's always been aggressive in drafting running backs with John Schneider as GM.
21:51So, I'm really interested to see how it's going to play out.
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22:15That's Minky, M-I-N-K-Y, Couture, C-O-U-T-U-R-E.com. You know the feeling.
22:18You make a pick in your fantasy draft and the entire room groans because they wanted that player.
22:23Or you grab a small school rookie off waivers and you start him right before he goes off in primetime.
22:29There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league.
22:32I'm JJ Zachary Eason, host of the Late Round Fantasy Football Podcast.
22:36Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off.
22:43We've got data-driven analysis, historical trends, and the strategies that separate winners from the rest.
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23:04I'm Jake Brennan, and on my podcast, Hollywoodland, I revisit some of the biggest stories from Hollywood history, separating the myths people
23:11want to believe from the reality underneath them. Like how the story of Marilyn Monroe isn't just the story of a Hollywood icon.
23:18Marilyn Monroe has become so iconic that her death can only be explained through conspiracy theories.
23:23And for some fans who can't let go, these stories have metastasized from conjecture to accepted fact.
23:28So on August 4th, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died. Then the rumors started, and she died again.
23:33And now, we're going to set the record straight and learn about the way Marilyn Monroe actually died the third way.
23:39Learn more about what happens when fame, media obsession, and conspiracy collide.
23:43Listen to Hollywoodland on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
23:48It's funny. I think of the Peter Griffin thing, where they're like, would you like Ken Walker, or would you like this mystery box of Jadarian Price?
23:56And he's like, mystery box, it could be anything.
23:59Even Ken Walker. It could be even Ken Walker.
24:01Because it's like, I think Jadarian Price is, I've kind of always thought this, I mean, I think your dream would have been Boggs, like 20 plus touches.
24:10But like the Helani news doesn't do anything to me.
24:13Because it's like, yeah, I bet they do use him on some early downs.
24:17And they want Price to come in four or five plays in, because he's built to be explosive.
24:23And if it's like Helani gets 10 touches, Price gets somewhere between, you want more in the 18, but 12 to 18.
24:30So that doesn't seem like a crazy output where people should be freaking out or anything like that.
24:35But do you think that's how it's going to play out and Jadarian Price can kind of take that role?
24:41Or I know you've been kind of negative about Charbonne even able to like come back early in the season.
24:48Yeah. I mean, this injury just happened so late in the playoffs.
24:51And then he waited until February to get the surgery for it.
24:55So it just has always seemed like our goal should be Thanksgiving, not before that, you know, maybe with the way guys are progressing faster.
25:03I mean, we see Chris Bell coming back from eight months from an ACL.
25:07Maybe it's closer to Halloween than it is Thanksgiving that he gets back.
25:11But even then, if that's his first week back, then they're probably going to ease him in.
25:16And like Fitzy said, he's not really a thing until Thanksgiving.
25:20So look, Charbonne is a great back. And I'm really excited for his future, specifically in Dynasty.
25:25I have him ranked higher than most because he's a free agent next year.
25:29I was about to say, you're excited when he's not a Seahawk.
25:33Yeah, yeah. I think someone's going to spend money.
25:36And I think you spend a first round pick on Jadarian Price because you're probably letting Charbonne walk coming out off of this ACL surgery.
25:43Unless he's really good down the stretch and in the playoffs, if that's the case, then, you know, you can resign him at that point.
25:51But I do think that in this backfield, yes, maybe it's going to be an ugly mix to start.
25:57But the way running back always works is whoever is running the best gets the ball.
26:02And Jadarian Price is going to be running the ball better than anybody else on this roster this year.
26:08So I do expect a lot of touches for Price.
26:11You just worry if, like, you know, they use Price maybe actually early in sets and they get inside the 20 and
26:17it goes to Helani or even a bigger nightmare.
26:20Exactly what they did last year. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
26:24Or even a bigger nightmare. It's more for, like, the fantasy side.
26:27It would be like Emmanuel Wilson coming in and doing stuff.
26:31Use the goal line back and then they use the other two backs.
26:35Right, yeah. Yeah, like it's Price on far downs, Helani inside the 20 and then inside the 5 it's Emmanuel Wilson and
26:42everyone's just like, you know, just like it's a nightmare.
26:45But that's probably what they're going to end up doing.
26:48The final two pieces outside of, you know, players being put on pump and whatever was between players not making and making the roster.
26:55So in an inverse way, these were two probably of the most surprising make the roster, not make the roster.
27:01Odell Beckham Jr. made the Giants roster. I'm just more shocked about it than anybody.
27:06And Joe Milton, backup quarterback for the Cowboys, did not make the roster.
27:10And Bogman almost lost it yesterday when Milton got cut.
27:13I know Fitz is with me. Fitz, were you shocked when you saw that?
27:17Totally shocked. The idea that Sam Howell is a better, gives you a better chance to win games.
27:23I forgot about your hate for Sam Howell. Fitz hates Sam Howell.
27:26Also, like, what did Joe Milton have to do?
27:29Like, he had a great preseason. I think he was, like, 29 for 43 for, like, 200 and some yards, three touchdowns, no interception.
27:37He runs. He's probably got the strongest arm of any quarterback.
27:40Yeah, he's got a cannon, too, because they're, like, 80 yards.
27:43Dude, like... Does this feel like a Jerry Jones move?
27:46The comp for his arm strength isn't football. It's Jacob Mizorowski.
27:50Like that... So I just... But, like, he had shown signs of turning into a decent passer, too.
27:55I don't understand it, and I would imagine that someone's going to pick up Joe Milton.
28:00Wild. Well, you're going to be seeing Odell Beckham out there, and maybe you're going to see Joe Milton getting picked up on all the weird quarterback situations.
28:09Would Joe Milton be the best quarterback in Cleveland right now?
28:12Well... I think he might be. I mean... That's why.
28:15That's why. Like, Welsh yesterday gave me a little crap about this, because we're recording a show, and I look at my phone like, what?
28:23He was, like, ready to interrupt me as I'm talking on a show, and I was, like...
28:28He made it out like Christian McCaffrey tore his ACL.
28:31Like, I was... When the words came out of his mouth what happened, I was just in shock.
28:37I was, like, listen, this is the one, but you're a Dynasty guy.
28:41You're a Dynasty guy. When your team is desperately searching for a quarterback, and Joe Milton is better than everyone that isn't
28:48Aaron Rodgers on your team, you are shocked that somebody else lets him go.
28:52Now, Pittsburgh isn't going to pick him up, because they already have four.
28:56I don't think Cleveland does it either, but someone is going to pick up Joe Milton for sure.
29:02Your Steelers should infinity gauntlet it. They should just pick up a fifth.
29:06And by the way, the Cowboys gave up a fifth, a fifth-round pick in 2025.
29:10They did get a seventh-round pick that year back in the draft, but you still give up a fifth, which is not nothing.
29:17Developed Joe Milton for two years after trading for him, and then just let him go.
29:22Okay. I got a great question. Even keel offense.
29:25I don't want to get, like, two different offensive sides, so put him on a median team out there.
29:31Let's say the Vikings. Who has a better career or better season if they are given the opportunity to start every game?
29:38Joe Milton or J.J. McCarthy? Fitzy. I'm going Milton.
29:40Okay. You guys are both going Milton over J.J.
29:43McCarthy. Yeah. Look, I think J.J. McCarthy could be a good quarterback in the future, but he needed to sit and develop for two to three years, right?
29:52They threw him in way too fast last season, but Joe Milton has been sitting two or three years.
29:58He's ready, I feel like. So I would plug him right in there.
30:02Can you imagine Milton balls to Jefferson? And the weird thing is, as good as Milton's arm strength is, he's not one to rocket every throw.
30:10Like, he'll actually use touch and layer some throws, and the dump-offs are thrown.
30:14Like, he throws a catchable ball, which J.J. McCarthy does not.
30:17How did the Saints not immediately add him? Spencer Rattler is your backup.
30:21Zach Wilson's behind him. The Saints should be the first team out there.
30:25Snap it up, Joe Milton. I love the thought of Joe Milton over J.J.
30:30McCarthy, given a full season of success. I am dying to hear it.
30:34Okay, you know what? Now, comments below. Joe Milton or J.J.
30:37McCarthy, 17-game season. Can we get Madden up here?
30:40Can we simulate a season? You know what, Fitzy?
30:43You got Madden. You got friends that work over at Madden.
30:46I don't have the new game. You have it.
30:49I want you to simulate. Put Joe Milton on the Vikings for a full season.
30:53Probably have to cut Kyler. Yeah, cut them, and then do J.J.
30:57McCarthy. Or someone here can do that if you want in the comments.
31:01I got to see what the simulated season looks like under the Minnesota Vikings with either one as quarterback.
31:07Let me know. And then also Joe Milton or J.J.
31:10McCarthy, who's the better full season starter. That'll get some conversation riled up there.
31:14We are going to be talking about what we learned out of the preseason.
31:19One big takeaway from the preseason as a whole.
31:21And we've got three more stock-up players before the season starts.
31:25But it's giveaway time. We've been talking all August about the LaDainian Tomlinson autographed jersey.
31:29Well, it is the time for the actual giveaway.
31:32And we've got another one right after. So the winner of the LaDainian Tomlinson autographed jersey giveaway is Sergio Guerra.
31:38Sergio Guerra. Sergio Guerra. Please get in touch with our customer support agents at mailbag at fantasypros.com with your mailing address and
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31:48Once we've confirmed it, you're going to get taken care of.
31:51Again, congrats to Sergio Guerra. G-U-E-R-R-A. Hopefully I'm saying your last name correctly.
31:55Sergio, you rock. You win. But if you others listening didn't win, here's an opportunity for you to win our brand new giveaway.
32:02A Todd Gurley signed Rams jersey. This is awesome.
32:05I still can't get over that shot of the Georgia running backs with Sonny Michelle, him, and Nick Chubb.
32:11And they're all like under 34 and they're all retired.
32:14And what could have been with Todd Gurley, but what is, is he is great.
32:19And his autographed jersey could be yours. Here's what you got to do.
32:23Subscribe to the Tailgate YouTube channel. Do it right now.
32:26Drop a comment below. We'll give you a couple reasons to comment.
32:29Or you could just say you love the channel or whatever it is.
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32:36We'll be announcing a winner right here on the channel.
32:39So make sure you turn on notifications so you know when new videos are up and you can claim your prize, just
32:46like Sergio did with the LT jersey. So congratulations to him.
32:50And congratulations to you guys that are going to be taking home, whoever it is, that Todd Gurley autographed jersey.
32:56All right. The preseason is over. We've kind of week in and week out talked about some things we've learned on an individual basis.
33:03What I want to do now is let's just do a big macro takeaway.
33:07There's been tons of action, tons of action that hasn't mattered.
33:11Some that we are going to make it bigger than it probably is.
33:15But I want to look from a macro perspective at a takeaway from each one of us to a specific team.
33:21One thing that you think can carry over. It could be maybe a specific player.
33:26It could be the usage of a player. It could be the usage from a team perspective.
33:31But through three preseason games, Fitzy, we will start with you.
33:35Give us a macro preseason as a whole takeaway that you're going to carry into the regular season.
33:40I just thought it was interesting that in the final preseason game for the Eagles, this was all starters sitting except for
33:47Makai Lemon, who had been sidelined by a hamstring injury for most of training camp in the preseason.
33:52So they wanted him to get a little taste of action.
33:56They played Makai Lemon in their final game. And you would think that Makai Lemon would primarily be the slot guy.
34:02But he played 15 snaps, lined up outside for nine of them in the slot for six of them.
34:08And, you know, he's kind of expected to be the primary slot guy.
34:12And maybe he will be and line up, you know, undoubtedly in the slot for a good percentage of regular season snaps.
34:19But the outside usage kind of hints that Devontae Smith is going to play a lot of slot snaps, too.
34:25And it kind of hints that things are going to be unpredictable and interchangeable in the Sean Mannion offense in Philly, which
34:32probably bodes well for both Devontae Smith and Makai Lemon.
34:35Just gets me a little more excited about what the Philly offense could be.
34:39And I think we need that excitement after a year of Kevin Petillo calling the plays.
34:44Yeah, I thought Makai Lemon looked really interesting, too, because it seemed there felt like there's like a lot of like negativity
34:51floating around, like very, very early on in the preseason.
34:54And then the usage kind of seems to be moving around.
34:57What do you think about that as a whole, an interchangeability with Makai Lemon and Devontae Smith and what he can end up being Boggs?
35:05Yeah, I mean, I think it's a great point.
35:08Right. And this is kind of you have Hollywood Brown thrown into this mix as well.
35:13Right. So, like all these guys that can kind of interchange where they're lining up, I think is very smart for this offense.
35:20Obviously, Saquon is still going to be number one in the pecking order.
35:24Jalen Hurts is still going to have a lot of those tush push first downs and touchdowns and everything.
35:30But I like like Fitzy said, you just had to be less vanilla than what you were last season.
35:36You got to change things up. And I think, you know, losing a talent like A.J.
35:40Brown is never it. It never makes things better on, you know, as a whole.
35:45But I do think that just getting that negativity out of the locker room, whatever the deal was between him and Jalen,
35:52I think it's just going to help. I think it's going to help A.J.
35:56Brown to get out of there. And I think it's going to help the Eagles for him to be gone as well.
36:03So, I do think that, you know, the changes should benefit this offense specifically with new play calling.
36:08Have we all been sleeping on Makai Lemon, too?
36:11I don't want to make it into like a big fantasy thing.
36:15He won the call for last year over Jeremiah Smith, which is kind of crazy.
36:20But has anybody ever like has anybody hurt themselves more than having being the biggest weirdo?
36:24Like just start. Yeah. Like just speaking alone dropped him like 10 spots in people's perception.
36:29And it felt very weird. But like, you know, there's a lot of like it's Carnell Tate.
36:35It's Jordan Tyson. And then the whole time, like Makai Lemon might be one of the really sneaky rookies that's floating out there.
36:42If that offense goes from vanilla to maybe a little vanilla chocolate swirl.
36:46And, you know, that's a little bit more exciting because there's nothing more boring than vanilla.
36:51But you get a little swirl action in here.
36:53They start rolling. Maybe Makai Lemon is the rookie we've been sleeping on here.
36:58That's what you were kind of alluding to, Fitzy.
37:01Yeah. And I do think he's the rookie we've been sleeping on.
37:04And it was maybe the personality. And then couple that with the hamstring injury early on.
37:09So there's not that much enthusiasm about his season.
37:12But I've told a couple people, you want to get excited about Makai Lemon, go watch the USC Iowa game from last year.
37:19And Lemon was just jaw dropping in that game.
37:22Like his hands. People think about him as like this catch and run guy, this guy who gets open really easily.
37:28His hands are amazing. Like suction cups. So I'm excited about him.
37:32I think he's going to be a really good player.
37:35I wouldn't be surprised if we look back on this draft and declare Makai Lemon to have been the best wide receiver in the class.
37:43He just needs to not talk. Just don't talk.
37:45And it'll be good. And it'll be absolutely golden.
37:48Please. Get him a book on the sideline. That's always worked for the Eagles, right?
37:53Yeah. Get LeBron. He can do the Godfather, whatever Godfather he likes to do.
37:57Wasn't that A.J. Brown's thing, too? Wasn't that his?
38:00Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Very good. All right, Boggs.
38:03Macro preseason takeaway. What team and what are you looking at?
38:06You know, it's funny. When watching the Browns this week, and I've seen this clipped and played everywhere.
38:12Ryan Fitzpatrick talking about how, well, you know, Deshaun Watson is going to be the quarterback.
38:17When he fails, they're going to go to Shadur Sanders.
38:20And then I also think that Dylan Gabriel is going to get to play as well.
38:25And I can't remember who was in the booth with Fitz Fitzpatrick.
38:28But they said, so you just think Watson's going to fail?
38:32And he goes, yeah, I do. I also think Dylan Gabriel will have a chance to play.
38:37It was just so nonchalant. It was so not what an announcer does.
38:41He's right, though. Right. If you're the Browns and you have this massive incoming crop of quarterbacks next season.
38:47Right. And I think all the awards, the post draft awards all went to the Browns for the way that they drafted
38:53in 2026, which I don't think has ever been set into a microphone before 2026, by the way.
38:59They've not had very good draft classes throughout their existence.
39:02Even when they went away and came back, you thought maybe that would increase things.
39:07It didn't. They were the same Browns. It was crazy.
39:10But things seem to be turning around in adding the correct personnel.
39:13It's this one spot that has dogged them for years and years and years, obviously continues to do that.
39:19So why not see what everybody has? All right.
39:22We paid Watson all of this money. Let's see what we have out of him.
39:27I know he's not popular with the fans. He can be the first one to start.
39:32He'll also be the first one we bench. Right.
39:34I think that's where we're at with Watson. I don't think he's long for this job.
39:39Four to five weeks. Then we're going to see Shador.
39:42Well, when they don't win games with Shador, then do we go to Talon Green?
39:47Because we saw a little Dylan Gabriel last year.
39:50I do think we go to Talon Green first and then Dylan Gabriel maybe is last.
39:55But I think all four of these QBs are going to play.
39:58I think it's going to be a long year for the Browns again.
40:02I think they're going to be bottom feeders and they will add a great quarterback next year, which I kind of don't like.
40:09I hope that they have the Steelers, you know, just above 500 season to not get one of these quarterbacks.
40:16But they're going to be picking high. They're going to be a Dante Moore Archmanning team for sure.
40:21I had to look at this as soon as you said that.
40:25I had to look and I typed in what are the best Browns draft class in history.
40:30And then I did over the last 30 years because the response I got was the 1957 draft class, which had Jim
40:37Brown and then Gene Hickerson, who's a ninth round pick, by the way, when they had nine, you know, multiple rounds like that.
40:44But then I did the last 30 years. Can you guys guess the year of 2026?
40:49Incorrect. Fitzy? Whatever year they took Joe Thomas. Hmm.
40:52I think it's also incorrect, but I'll tell you in a second.
40:55I mean, it's all subjective, too, by the way.
40:58Yeah, sure. I'll tell you. I do not have a good guess.
41:02Okay. Okay. 2018, where the 1-1 was Baker Mayfield, the 1-4 was Denzel Ward, and then the 2, the second round pick at 35 was Nick Chubb.
41:10So those were their first three picks. I mean, they've had some spots, but to your point, though, like we can't anoint
41:172026 yet, but we're like getting it. Sure. I think they're going to get into that spot where what they've done across
41:24the board might look similar to one of those.
41:26You know what this team could have used the last couple years?
41:30Baker Mayfield. Really could have used Baker Mayfield the last few years.
41:34Would have been great. And he beat Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh.
41:37How do you let that guy walk? He might be, and I think this might be where he's gearing, too.
41:43He might be the Steelers quarterback next year. Baker Mayfield.
41:46Because. Didn't get his contract. Yeah. I mean, it works because Tampa Bay refused to do the deal with him, and he wants to get revenge on Cleveland.
41:55So. Yeah. Their draft last year, by the way.
41:58Not too bad with Carson Schwestinger. Already a huge difference.
42:01Yeah. Okay. Judkins, who's carrying their running game. Harold Fannin, who was an amazing third round.
42:06All right. Mason Graham. Mason Graham was just okay.
42:08Like, if he takes a step up. Yeah. I mean.
42:11Well, I mean, I don't like this trend of the Browns having good draft classes.
42:16It's two years in a row. I hate it.
42:19Yeah. No pun intended to having Deshaun Watson and Vince McMahon alike here.
42:23But I was Vince McMahon meme when you were doing that.
42:26I was like, each time you see that meme where I'm like, oh.
42:30Oh. Every time you were saying one of those picks, I was getting kind of excited about that.
42:36Yeah. I mean, I love looking at draft classes.
42:38The Browns are a really interesting one. So it was just funny to think like, this is the big one.
42:45But, you know, if you take last year's class and this year's class, that could be the big change.
42:50What's the change they need, though? They need a quarterback.
42:54They need it. Which is something that is like there.
42:57You know, it's a kryptonite. It has been a kryptonite for years and years and years that they can build these teams,
43:03get the structure, and they just never have a good quarterback around.
43:07Or they make the wrong move and let a guy like Baker go.
43:11So my big macro takeaway, and this one might be the dumbest of all of them because some of you guys might already be there.
43:19But I've had this slow burn over this preseason of just a realization with the Chargers and maybe more specifically with what
43:26this offense is going to look like in that.
43:28What was it like? A couple of years ago, it was run heavy.
43:32We thought it was going to be a lot more run heavy with Harbaugh coming in.
43:37All of a sudden, they're pass heavy. Lad kind of tapers back.
43:41You know, Herbert's good. Looks fine. Everything like that.
43:44There's something I was talking with Bogman about this.
43:46There's something now to me about McDaniel in this offense and the oohing and aahing that Herbert has done that I feel
43:53like there is an unleashing that's about to happen because you know, McDaniel's been held back by having Tua.
43:59Tua is horrific. I mean, horrific. I mean, the eight odd like under seven can't throw the ball deep when he did.
44:06It just air balls. And it was like, well, how did they what was the majority of anything that was done on the Dolphins team?
44:14It was like 15 yard out at most and let guys like Tyree kill and Jalen Waddle have some yak.
44:20But he has a team now with wide receivers that have step.
44:23He's got a quarterback now that can make the big throws.
44:27I think he's going to sling the ever living crap out of ball with this team.
44:32And it's interesting. I was looking at Herbert. He was eighth in air yards last year, but 33rd in overall a dot at 8.2.
44:39I think that is going to completely change. I think you might end up seeing him be like top three and deep
44:46balls thrown that a dot's going to go up.
44:49And I specifically think Quentin Johnson actually might be in for a bigger year than I had been giving him credit for.
44:55I'm a little anti. I'm not anti lad because I love lad, but I'm anti like lad being what he was two
45:02years ago, where it's a 29% target share. I just don't think that's going to happen.
45:07But you've also got Trey Harris who could spread the field.
45:11I don't think Adson is going to be very good, but they got some tight ends that can do some business.
45:17I just think that as fun as the run game is, it's kind of this younger, you know, maybe there's a little
45:24bit of a rotation that happens a tiny bit with Keaton Mitchell.
45:27All I feel like McDaniels has been talking about is the big playmakers that are going to do stuff, probably catching the ball.
45:35Keaton Mitchell is going to probably do it at a screen passes.
45:38Quentin Johnson is going to do it big. So yes, the Chargers heavy pass heavy.
45:43I think it is going to be a, to a bigger degree, but I think it's going to be to a big playmaking degree this year.
45:51And you kind of saw that right at the end of the preseason where they just let Herbert slay the, you know,
45:58in his few attempts out there, slaying the ball.
46:00What was it? 60 yards deep to Quentin Johnson.
46:03I think we are going to see a lot more of that than we have seen in the past.
46:09And that whole a dot bottom 30 quarterbacks, all of that is going to change this year.
46:14And I think the Chargers are going to be high flying.
46:18Fitzy, are you, you were kind of shaking. Maybe you're in agreement or maybe you have a retort.
46:23No, I'm excited about it. I agree with you and just think that under Mike McDaniel, Tua Tunga-Vailoa led the NFL in passing yardage.
46:31And he did it with a pasta arm. And now you've got a guy who's got a rocket launcher attached to his shoulder.
46:38And I'm not the first person to say this.
46:40I think they touched on this in the athletic football podcast last week where they were saying like McDaniel can just expand
46:47his playbook so much because with the Dolphins, he had to do it with all these, you know, shallow crossers where he
46:54was just finding all this space for Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddell and letting them do their magic after the catch.
47:00Justin Herbert can access parts of the field that Tua could not.
47:04More eloquently said than what I was attempting to allude to.
47:07That's it right there. It's the tree, the route tree, the playbook opens and expands when you have a quarterback like this.
47:14Right. So just think of the creativity Mike McDaniel is going to be able to use.
47:19It's really exciting. And a multitude of really good receivers too.
47:23It's not just like it's based on one player.
47:25It's like, I mean, you know, we look at Ladd as kind of like a slot merchant, you know, he can catch the ball, fall down or whatever.
47:34But like we've seen big plays. Ladd can stretch the field.
47:37Trey Harris can be able to stretch the field.
47:40And so Boggs, any thoughts on, you know, I think there might be a legitimate shot.
47:45I'm not saying, I mean, I'm not a big futures guy, but there's a little part of me that wants to go
47:52put a like Justin Herbert leads the NFL in passing yards.
47:55MVP maybe. Yeah. I mean, maybe take a look at those odds.
47:59Maybe a little, little, nice little sprinkle on top of the other future bets on top there.
48:04I look, I think the beautiful thing about McDaniel is that he doesn't really have a system per se.
48:10He, he leans into the strengths of the, the players that he has, which is why we sought to lead the NFL
48:17in passing yards because he knew exactly what to do.
48:20All right, let's get these shallow crossers into the hands of these amazing playmakers.
48:24If I'm not going to have a quarterback with a rocket arm, I'm going to throw short passes and let these guys take it.
48:32I'm going to work within the run game. Right.
48:34And what we saw from what we've seen from Herbert in most of his career, you know, everybody gives the Bengals crap
48:41about not fixing their offensive line, right? The chargers have made attempts and it hasn't worked.
48:46That's, you know, they went out and got slated and they got all and they both got hurt last year.
48:52That's why you saw short passes from Herbert. It wasn't, it didn't have anything to do with the talent around him.
48:59It was, he had no Mississippi's to throw the damn ball.
49:02And with the specifically the type of wide receivers that you have on this team that are guys that are going to
49:09stretch the field a little bit more, nothing works, right?
49:12Hampton was hurt. You don't have your grinder and you don't have your line to push the grinder through.
49:18And you have these guys that run deep routes and they have to run shallower routes because we have no time to throw the damn ball.
49:26It was a disaster last year. I think it's going to be the opposite of that this year.
49:31And this offense is going to be a lot of fun to watch.
49:35So I'm absolutely with you. All right. Stock watch time.
49:38Three players coming off of the final set of the preseason.
49:42We were, I mean, obviously we threw some players in there as we're looking at kind of a macro perspective.
49:48This is honing back in after the final preseason game, our final stock watch from the preseason three players that we are keeping an eye on here.
49:56Fitzy kick us off here. Stock watch who is up or down for you.
50:00Ravens kicker Tyler loop is down. He missed field goals of 58 and 51 yards in the preseason finale for the Ravens.
50:07Missed three total kicks in the preseason, although they were all 49 yards or longer.
50:12But we know how the Ravens season ended last year, right Boggs?
50:16The miss by Tyler loop, bad 44 yard miss for him after the Ravens declined to try to get some extra yards
50:22with Derek Henry, just took a knee to set up that 44 yard try that missed badly.
50:28And, you know, so by all accounts, loop had a good training camp, but now with the, with the shanks in the
50:34preseason, they have brought in a guy beloved to all 49ers fans, right?
50:38Well, it's Jake Moody, former Michigan. Everybody loves them.
50:41Yeah. So Moody didn't fare too well in San Francisco did a little better in a short stint with the commanders, but
50:48now he's signed to, I believe the practice squad.
50:51So loops got Moody looking over his shoulder. I can't think of anyone going into the regular season with more pressure on them than Tyler loop.
50:59Was Moody the highest drafted special teams player in recent history?
51:02Who is the highest drafted like kicker? Well, Janet was ski.
51:05Yeah. Oh yeah. What first? It was the, I was about to say it was the first, right?
51:11Yep. Yeah. Dude, wasn't he like John Gruden told that story about him coming in hungover.
51:16I was about to say, wasn't he like ripping cigs and just like drunk and stuff?
51:21He was like, he was essentially the construction worker.
51:24He was like from the replacements. He was that guy from the replacements.
51:28Yes. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. Way fatter, but yes.
51:31Yeah. And Gruden had a story about him coming in hungover and he went to go kick a field goal and he's like, he's hungover.
51:38He's going to miss it. It's 52 yards. He's like, I wanted to miss it.
51:43And he nails it. Nails it. He comes over.
51:46He's like, great kick, man. You know, the Gruden face and everything.
51:49But yeah, the Tyler loop, you know, sometimes it just takes one bad, bad kick.
51:54He needs Dr. Sharon from Ted Lasso, I think.
51:57All right, box your stock up. This is a player that you're pretty locked into.
52:01But what did preseason? What did the third preseason games stock up this player for you?
52:06Yeah, it wasn't necessarily the third preseason game, but it's just Emmitt Johnson.
52:10Emmitt Johnson has been incredible in the preseason. Here has the second most missed tackles forced among backs with 20 carries or
52:17more, which there are 37 of them. He had the fourth highest elusive rating.
52:21I think he was seventh in yards per contact, yards after contact per attempt.
52:26And he is the handcuff that you want if you are drafting Ken Walker in fantasy drafts.
52:31And I do think he's going to have a role because we've seen Ken Walker.
52:36You know, he has peaked at 255 touches. And if you want to keep this guy around for the entire season in
52:42his career, he has shown to break down if you give him too many touches.
52:47I think Emmitt Johnson is going to have a decent role here.
52:51He had 297 touches in his last season at Nebraska.
52:54Rashard Smith was the only guy behind him. We knew Kareem Hunt didn't have a lot left in the gas tank.
53:00He even had a tryout with the Lions and didn't make it, which is probably the end for Kareem Hunt.
53:06But that's the guy that you would say, hey, let's bring in this guy in case, you know, anything happens to Ken
53:13Walker and they didn't even do it. I think Emmitt Johnson is going to have a bigger year than people expect him to.
53:20And I think he's already your number two back in KC.
53:24Yeah, you've been big on Emmitt Johnson. Final one for me here was very week three of the preseason relevant.
53:30Love this one. Yeah. And I, you know, I kind of actually thought I might even be stealing this from Boggs.
53:36I actually put this on the sheet. But I love it because I, Fitzy doesn't like this guy.
53:42And I've been positive on, on the dynasty pod the entire off season.
53:46So you picking him, I didn't even get mad.
53:49I went, I just did this. Yeah. Well, I also drafted him in our, we have the 16 team giant IDP league.
53:55And I ended up getting him in like, I don't know, 15th round or 20th round or something crazy.
54:01But Chris Bell with the Miami dolphins injury designated pretty much all preseason gets in.
54:06And really what stood out was the target share.
54:09He ended up getting five targets in the first 10 minutes.
54:12They, I think it was the first play. They had like a nice hitch route.
54:17Then it was post. And maybe more importantly, a couple of people noted this.
54:21He went between like X, Z slot. I mean, Z can move around to that, but like they were using him in multiple spots.
54:28It is the most talentless wide receiver core, maybe in the history of the NFL.
54:33Definitely in the last 10 years, if you look at, if you, if you were to go into Miami and interview a
54:40hundred people to say, tell me the two, tell me two wide receivers on the Miami dolphins, I would bet you 95
54:46of those a hundred would not be able to even say one of them.
54:51So because of that, if we do believe that Malik Willis can be solid, if we do believe that Devon H.N.
54:57can still hold his value, there's got to be something from somewhere else.
55:01And Chris Bell might be that guy. He looked good early on in this game.
55:06They thought these injuries might keep him away much longer.
55:09They used them in multiple spots, ball control to him.
55:12Look, I think there is going to be early targets.
55:15And if he's out there, Malik Willis is going to target him and for them to move him around, if whether it's
55:22X and they want him to run big giant posts, or they're going to move around to get the ball.
55:28I think they want to get the ball in his hands.
55:31And there's just not a lot of other guys out there.
55:35So I think this is one of those few situations because so much time was missed.
55:40He gets in and they immediately get him the ball.
55:43I mean, first quarter it's, it's Chris Bell, Chris Bell, Chris Bell.
55:46He has a real chance to be their number one, which in reality is probably like, you know, statistically a low number two wide receiver on another team.
55:55But I think we got to stock up on Chris Bell.
55:58No one is talking about him. We haven't talked at least much about him.
56:03Maybe dynasty streets you have, but I think we got to start paying attention.
56:07So Fitzy, has anything changed in your hate for Chris Bell?
56:10Yeah, I don't hate him. One of the most physically gifted receivers in this draft.
56:15But I think the weakness he has in his game is route running.
56:19And I worried that with his injury, it was not great for a guy who needs to improve his route running to
56:26be missing training camp in the preseason. Great that he was able to come back so early.
56:31And I think that bodes well for his chances of making some sort of impact right away.
56:36I'm open minded about him for sure. I just, I know when I was watching Louisville last year, I was not particularly
56:43impressed, but again, one of the most physically gifted receivers in the class.
56:47All right, stock up. If you guys have your opinions on any players that the final preseason week got you excited about, drop them in the comments below.
56:56Make sure if you guys have enjoyed this, leave your comments below because you get opportunities to win like our brand new
57:02giveaway, the Todd Gurley signed Rams jersey. Just by subscribing and commenting below, you've got your opportunity.
57:08And if you can, you can rate and review on the podcast side.
57:12We really appreciate talking NFL with you guys. And hopefully you're going to stick with us all season because we got some other cool stuff.
57:19Besides having breakdowns of the weekly matchups, previews for it from a real NFL perspective, we're also looking at a midweek live
57:26where you guys can hang with us and it's just talking ball.
57:30So hopefully you guys are going to do that.
57:33And if you guys are looking for a little bit of, we talked some betting stuff here, make sure you're dialed into
57:39betting pros because we've got all the big stuff coming up week one, all the big bets, the prop show Eric's and I are going to have.
57:48So go and check out, subscribe to betting pros.
57:50So you don't miss any of that friends. Thank you so much for hanging out with us.
57:56The NFL is oh so close. We're almost here and we're going to enjoy it with you.
58:01Thank you. That's a tailgate for Fitzy and Bogman.
58:04I'm Welsh. We're out of here. Let's get in.
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58:51Hollywoodland is part of the Exactly Right Network. Listen to new episodes every Monday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
58:59In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author Petra Mathers and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends
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