First Class Fantasy - BUY the Dip or STAY AWAY? | Jeff Mueller and Pete Nova
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
59 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 24, 2026
Published
Mon, August 24, 2026
22
Player insights
20
Players mentioned
Topics
Alec PierceRome OdunzeA.J. BrownBraelon AllenBreece HallD.J. MooreDalton KincaidDaniel JonesDrake LondonEmeka EgbukaJavonte WilliamsJeremiyah LoveJordyn TysonJosh Jacobs
Player analysis
Player insights
A.J. Brown
NegativeInjury38:02
Jeff Mueller expresses concern regarding AJ Brown's knee, citing a history of swelling and the need for repeated draining, which may contribute to a decline in separation and explosiveness. Mueller also notes a potential correlation between the knee issues and recurring hamstring injuries, though he suggests a 'big slot' role could help mitigate some of these physical limitations.
Insight pageAlec Pierce
NegativeInjury4:55
Alec Pierce is identified as one of the few players with a notable injury concern, though it is not considered serious or significant.
Insight pageNegativeInjury47:06
Jeff Mueller expresses significant concern regarding Alec Pierce's ankle/foot injury, specifically noting a lack of dorsiflexion and an inability to step through the ankle rocker, which suggests a potential surgery on the talus bone. Mueller believes Pierce is not moving like his normal self and will likely be injury-prone and unable to sprint or cut sharply, making his current ADP a fade.
Insight pageBraelon Allen
PositiveDepth Chart32:46
Jeff Mueller identifies Braylon Allen as the preferred handcuff for Breece Hall. Despite reports of Allen gaining significant weight, Mueller notes that he has maintained his explosiveness and burst, and he highlights Allen's proven receiving upside from previous years.
Insight pageBreece Hall
PositiveInjury30:26
Jeff Mueller views Breece Hall's recent groin injury as minor, likely a two-to-three-week recovery, and notes that the team is simply slow-playing his return during the preseason. Mueller remains confident in drafting Hall at his current ADP, stating he would not be surprised if Hall only missed a week or two if this were the regular season.
Insight pageD.J. Moore
PositiveValue19:09
DJ Moore is a strong target at his current ADP. Despite a minor injury scare, he is expected to thrive in Joe Brady's offense, which fits his skill set for explosive plays.
Insight pageDalton Kincaid
NegativeUsage28:47
Dalton Kincaid's usage remains a concern as the team continues to manage his snaps and routes while he recovers from a PCL injury.
Insight pageDaniel Jones
NegativeInjury52:07
Daniel Jones is recovering from right Achilles surgery and admits he is not at 100%. Jeff Mueller notes that right-handed quarterbacks with right Achilles injuries often struggle with deep ball velocity and accuracy, which negatively impacts his connection with receivers like Alec Pierce.
Insight pageDrake London
NegativeProjection54:13
Jeff Mueller is low on Drake London, stating he would not draft him in the first two rounds and does not project him as a top-12 wide receiver. Concerns stem from Tua Tagovailoa's injury history, back discomfort, and potential inability to push the ball downfield, as well as the uncertainty surrounding Michael Penix's recovery from left ACL surgery.
Insight pageEmeka Egbuka
NegativeInjury5:00
Emeka Egbuka is dealing with a minor injury, but it is not considered significant or serious.
Insight pageJavonte Williams
NegativeValue5:17
Jeff Mueller expresses concern over Javante Williams' current ADP (pick 41 on NFFC), noting that his upside is heavily touchdown-dependent with limited receiving utilization, making him a risky high-priced asset.
Insight pageJeremiyah Love
NegativeInjury10:14
Jeremiah Love is dealing with a high ankle sprain expected to keep him out 3-4 weeks. Jeff Mueller notes a potential 25% production dip early, but suggests it may be closer to 10% due to Love's receiving upside.
Insight pageJordyn Tyson
NegativeInjury0:44
Jordan Tyson is expected to miss two months due to an injury, making him one of the few major injury concerns currently on the report.
Insight pageJosh Jacobs
PositiveValue9:11
Pete Nova ranks Josh Jacobs as a mid-third-round player and prefers him over both Kyron Williams and Javante Williams.
Insight pageJustin Jefferson
PositiveProjection40:41
Jeff Mueller and the host discuss Justin Jefferson's high floor, noting that even with backup quarterbacks like Carson Wentz in the past, Jefferson maintained elite target volume and production. They express confidence in Kevin O'Connell's ability to scheme targets for Jefferson regardless of the quarterback situation.
Insight pageKenneth Walker III
PositiveBreakout57:37
Jeff Mueller predicts Kenneth Walker will finish the season as a top-five running back, citing high confidence in his upside.
Insight pageKhalil Shakir
PositiveValue27:28
Jeff Mueller is in on Khalil Shakir at a cheaper cost, noting that his recent surgical procedure on his ankle should resolve the instability issues that hampered his 2025 production.
Insight pageKyren Williams
PositiveValue7:17
Jeff Mueller prefers Kyron Williams over Javante Williams due to the Rams' superior offensive environment, despite acknowledging the high price point for both.
Insight pageLuther Burden
NegativeUsage27:45
Jeff Mueller is optimistic about Luther Burden's outlook, noting that his groin injury appears to be a minor grade one strain rather than a grade two, given his ability to walk without a limp. Mueller highlights that Burden has a better understanding of the offense this year compared to his rookie season, reducing the likelihood of mental errors, and he projects less than a 10% re-injury risk for the groin.
Insight pageRome Odunze
NegativeInjury22:07
Jeff Mueller expresses concern regarding Rome Odunze's foot injury, specifically the risk of a stress fracture leading to malunion, which could alter his biomechanics and impact his ability to cut and change direction. Mueller notes that Odunze's 'new normal' comment suggests lingering issues, and he also highlights that Odunze's role in the Bears' offense aligns with Caleb Williams' weakest area, which is downfield passing.
Insight pageNegativeInjury33:45
Concerns regarding Rome Odunze's foot injury are likely overblown, with the 'new normal' narrative for recovering athletes being exaggerated.
Insight pageTyler Warren
PositiveValue51:11
Tyler Warren is a preferred late-round tight end target over higher-priced options like Colston Loveland, especially in redraft best ball formats, due to his value and the Colts' offensive situation.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
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0:35Subject to credit approval, Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch.
0:40Terms and more at AppleCard.com. Breece Hall has hit the injury report.
0:44Jordan Tyson looks like he's going to miss two months.
0:47Today, we're going to talk about all the latest injury news, these guys, and how it affects us in fantasy football right here on PlayerProfiler.
0:55What is going on, folks? Pete Nova here with PlayerProfiler.
0:58Super excited to come back. We had Adam Hutchison of Football Guys on.
1:03We broke a lot of these injuries down, a lot of these players.
1:07And now we have Jeff Mueller here over from Fantasy Points.
1:10He is their physical therapist. He is their guy at Fantasy Points.
1:14If you follow Fantasy Points, they have a ton of great information, a ton of studs, sharp people over there.
1:20And so Jeff is their dedicated guy from the injury side who's giving all of the takes, all the breakdowns on what's
1:27going on and what we can expect for some of these players.
1:31Jeff, what is going on, man? Thanks so much for joining us.
1:35How's it going, Pete? Thanks for having me on here.
1:38Definitely been very busy with all these injuries and preseason so far.
1:42Yeah, you know, there's two ways to look at the injuries, right?
1:46It's on one hand, you can get frustrated, which I'm definitely frustrated with the injuries.
1:51But at the same point, when you have guys like yourself or guys like Adam who can kind of sift through and
1:58say, hey, this isn't going to be nearly as bad.
2:01Or when this guy comes back, you know, we should expect, you know, pretty close to 100 percent, you know, ability on the field.
2:09You know, we still get discounts on guys because guys, you know, especially in casual leagues with guys in home leagues, guys
2:16see out or guys see questionable tags and they're drafting online or they see these things and they say, oh, I don't
2:23I don't want to touch this guy. He's already hurt.
2:26Or people have this perceived thing in their mind where they say this guy's hurt already.
2:31I don't want to deal with this all season long.
2:34And so it provides some some discounts, right? There really hasn't been anybody major so far outside of Jordan Tyson, who we'll
2:41get to in a little bit, Jeff, but really hasn't been anybody super major right now.
2:46That's, you know, popped up on the injury report that we're like, man, his his stocks got to fall a lot or you should just not draft him.
2:55Maybe Alec Pierce. Would that be probably the only other guy you can think of?
3:00Yeah. And maybe Emeka Egbuka or Egbigbu, as Gronk would say, but not even by that much.
3:05You know, it's not a significant or serious, serious injury.
3:09But yeah, probably probably Alec Pierce is the main one.
3:12OK, and let's we we were kind of talking about who we're going to start with.
3:17I did say we'd start with Javante Williams because you got the Javante Williams jersey behind you.
3:22Javante is not hurt, but Javante is a good case study of a player, Jeff, who, you know, had a pretty brutal injury.
3:30It kind of looked and changed the outlook of his career.
3:33Right. He comes back to Denver after that nasty injury, has kind of a down year in Denver, and then they don't resign him.
3:41He goes to the Cowboys for practically nothing. He's going in getting drafted in like the 120s last year.
3:47And then he ends up being a stud for fantasy last year.
3:51You know, what are your thoughts on Javante Williams?
3:53Is that repeatable in your opinion? Is that, you know, something where it's like, hey, it was really just all volume for him.
4:01And I don't expect him to get that pop or burst back.
4:05And if he loses out on some volume, he's probably a bad pick, which currently Javante is going at the off the
4:12board at pick 41 on NFFC high stakes. Yeah, I think I think from a per touch standpoint, I mean, he played
4:19fantastic, probably one of his best years, especially coming off the injury in prior years, but probably his best year so far.
4:26But unfortunately, I just don't know if I love his price because a lot of his upside comes from touchdowns, not a lot of receiving utilization.
4:34And it's just a high price to pay for that.
4:37It's kind of like kind of like betting on Kyron Williams, but I'd rather bet on Kyron Williams because just a little bit of a better offense.
4:46But yeah, from a per touch standpoint, I think Javante can definitely repeat that.
4:50It's just will he get as many touchdowns and pay off at a high price?
4:55I see him going, you know, above sometimes above or right around Brees Hall.
5:00Kyron Williams, like I said, Jeremiah Love might drop below him.
5:03We'll talk on him in a little bit. But I just keep finding myself wanting to take wide receivers in his range.
5:10Yeah. And that's really the key, right? I mean, this year, you know, you don't want to follow the herd.
5:16You don't want to follow what everybody is doing.
5:19And this year, everybody's pretty much pushing running backs up the board.
5:23And unfortunately, like it's just the state that we are at right now, Jeff, where running backs go off the board much
5:30higher this year than in years past. And if you don't get a running back in round one, round two, you're kind
5:37of stuck pushing or reaching or chasing the position in rounds three and four.
5:42And that's left us with guys like Travis Etienne, right?
5:45That's left us with guys like Javante, Kyron Williams, right?
5:48You start to go a little bit further down.
5:51Josh Jacobs, Cam Scadaboo. I prefer some of those guys, right?
5:54I prefer Josh Jacobs. Honestly, I have Josh Jacobs ahead of Kyron Williams, ahead of Javante Williams.
6:00Like I have Josh Jacobs as like a mid third round player, and he goes off the board at pick four.
6:06I guess the first player, Jeff, here. And the first player that we're going to talk about is going to be Jeremiah Love.
6:14Now, Jeremiah Love, Jeff, he goes off the board at pick 33.
6:18He's a rookie, you know, top five draft pick.
6:21And hard to not draft the player with that kind of draft capital.
6:25You're expecting big things. He was going at the 2-3 turn.
6:28Now he's kind of fallen to pick 33 off the board with this injury with him.
6:33Didn't have a large injury history, grade two MCL sprain in 2024 at Notre Dame, right?
6:38And then really has been healthy the rest of his career.
6:42He gets rolled up on a really, really unfortunate injury in a game that he really shouldn't have been playing in at that point.
6:50And now it looks like he's expected to miss a couple of weeks.
6:54What are your thoughts on Jeremiah Love and the injury and just your expectations?
6:58Do you think he'll be ready for week one or is it just kind of hard to say at this point?
7:05Yeah, I'd say kind of hard to say at this point.
7:08I do think there's a lot of overreaction on Twitter.
7:12Some people are pushing him into like running back 20, 25 range, which sounds crazy.
7:16I just think that's a massive overreaction. I think people hear or see high ankle sprain and they freak out a little bit.
7:24I think best case scenario, this is a three to four week injury, returns to play.
7:29That would be like right before week one. And he's probably going to be limited for, you know, three to four games.
7:36I do have close to a 25% production dip in the first three to four games played.
7:41However, that's on average for running backs coming off high ankle sprains.
7:45However, when the running back comes with high receiving upside, it comes closer to about a 10% dip.
7:51So you're not really looking at a huge dip for someone like Jeremiah Love because we know just from a skill set
7:58standpoint, we know he has a lot of receiving upside.
8:01He's a tremendous receiver and he's explosive. The only downside is we don't know exactly how Arizona is going to utilize him now coming off that injury.
8:10We saw their plan in week one in preseason, but will they carry that over?
8:14Or will they use this injury as a reason to say, well, let's slow play him.
8:20But even then, I think after week three, week four, worst case scenario, he's, I put on Twitter, I wouldn't be surprised
8:27if he's scoring as a running back 14 or better rest of season from week four to 17.
8:32Okay. Yeah, I have him ranked as my running back 14.
8:36And his price right now is settling in at pretty much where I have him ranked.
8:41Overall rankings for Jeremiah Love, I have at pick 34.
8:44So right now his cost is, as I said prior, you're looking at a guy that's going off the board at pick 33.
8:51So I think Jeremiah Love is now kind of falling into that territory for where I feel comfortable going ahead and buying him.
8:59Because we talk about these discounts, right? Jeremiah Love may start the season off at a little bit of a production dip for the first four weeks.
9:07But, you know, you're getting that discount baked in for you, right?
9:11And then what does that look like rest of season?
9:14If you're telling me RB 14 rest of season and I'm getting RB 14, you know, in late round three, early round
9:21four, potentially, once the ADP starts to settle even more, that starts to become a risk that I'm willing to take because
9:28I had concerns about Jeremiah Love when he was being picked at the 2-3 turn, right?
9:34I was not in on him. I did not want to touch his price point there.
9:39But as the price starts to change, it starts to kind of hit into the zone where I'm comfortable drafting him.
9:45I think even with it, if you just take the dip for the first four weeks, you still have a guy that
9:52can break into that top 10, maybe be the RB 8, RB 7 overall.
9:57I think that's possible. Now he has to really hit hard on his production and where that ceiling is for him.
10:03But I think it's manageable. I think it's doable.
10:06It's just a matter of how much will he, you know, get an opportunity to score touchdowns and how much does Tyler Algier honestly factor in, right?
10:15Do you have concerns about Tyler Algier who may get some more touches now, get more ingratiated into the offense these next
10:22couple weeks in camp and then kind of start splitting a little bit of the work until Love gets fully healthy and
10:29then maybe continues to split some of that work and also siphon some stuff at the goal line.
10:35Do you have concerns about that, Jeff? Jeff, is that something or you're just kind of like, hey, you know what?
10:41They took him top five. You know, there's no way Algier is going to get work like that.
10:47Yeah. I mean, when I think of the offensive structure as a whole, I might have a little bit of concern in that scenario early in games.
10:56But ultimately, this Arizona team is not going to be good.
10:59They're going to be playing from behind a lot.
11:02That's more of a script for Love's skill set, running routes.
11:06Yeah, I don't know if I'm necessarily all that concerned on Algier.
11:10Maybe a little concern on offensive line too after they lost Chase Besantis, their right guard.
11:15Torn ACL or torn MCL. He's out for the season now.
11:18But yeah, I don't know. People are concerned about Algier with Bijon.
11:22I don't know if Love is as good as Bijon.
11:25Pretty close maybe. Yeah. I'm not that concerned. I think the talent's comparable.
11:29But I do think that the Falcons probably had a little bit of a better offensive line situation and had maybe a
11:36little bit of a less competition in the red zone, right?
11:40You got McBride now. You've got Marv. You've got Michael Wilson.
11:43So those are all factors. But let's go ahead and move over to our next player here.
11:49And it's going to be DJ Moore. DJ Moore is a player that I've been very, very high on this year.
11:55I've talked about him at Nauseam. Right now, DJ Moore is going at pick 44 on NFFC.
12:01In ADP from Fantasy Pros Consensus, he's pick 59.
12:04So you can just see that the reason NFFC is so valuable is because it's high stakes.
12:09But you can also kind of predict the future of saying, hey, usually NFFC high stakes is ahead of the market.
12:16And the market starts to come and creep towards it.
12:19So if you have drafts right now, DJ Moore at 59 in consensus for Fantasy Pros likely is going to start moving
12:26closer to 50, maybe breaking into the 40s in your home leagues in those casual or more casual leagues.
12:32But with DJ Moore, he's been pretty durable over his entire career, Jeff.
12:36He finds his way over to Buffalo. He's working with his old OC in Brady.
12:41Joe Brady is now there. He was there in Carolina.
12:44And people are kind of of the opinion that DJ Moore is washed.
12:48Don't be afraid to offend me here because I did say I'm a DJ Moore guy.
12:53If you're one of those people, Jeff, you can come out and say it.
12:58But what are your thoughts on DJ Moore? He gets a little rolled up on in this first preseason game.
13:04But before that, looked really good. Three catches, 60 yards.
13:08What are your thoughts on DJ Moore, the outlook?
13:10If it is a high ankle sprain, you know, what is your concern from like coming back to playing at 100 percent?
13:17And how long could something like that take? Yeah, I would say so by video, I was a little concerned about high ankle sprain.
13:25It just it fit the mechanism after that play.
13:28If you saw that play on video, he was on the on the sideline talking with trainers, just got it briefly looked at.
13:35And then he he stayed on the sideline with his cleats on, just talking to Josh Allen, kind of roaming around the sideline like nothing was nothing happened.
13:44So good sign. At least I'm waiting on. I want to see tomorrow's report.
13:49Today's August 17th. I want to see tomorrow's practice report just to make sure it's not a Jeremiah Love situation where the
13:56coaching staff says, oh, he could have returned to the game.
13:59He was fine. And then the next day he shows up and it's more sore.
14:04As long as that doesn't happen, I'm perfectly fine with DJ Moore price tag.
14:08If it is a high ankle sprain, then obviously we have to look at the two to three week, three to four
14:15week time frame for healing just for stability of the ankle with a couple of weeks of production dip.
14:22But even that, I mean, I I'm not overly fading him.
14:25I would still very much want him for this year.
14:28I'll put some gas on the fire on this one.
14:31I'm excited for Joe Brady. I think he's been held held back by some of these coaching staffs like Sean McDermott and all that.
14:39I truly believe that now that he has full reins, he's going to let it rip.
14:44He's going to get back to his LSU days with Joe Burrow.
14:48I mean, we saw it pre preseason week one.
14:51Joe Brady was calling these plays that Josh Allen was just ripping it from the start to DJ Moore, Khalil Shakir downfield.
14:58We're going to see a lot of explosive plays and DJ Moore skill set actually fits that perfectly.
15:04So I'm drafting him in almost every league, it seems like.
15:07Yeah, I feel like in Jeff, tell me if I'm wrong here.
15:11You know, those that are on Twitter and those that, you know, are heavy into, you know, watching guys like us, you
15:18know, at Player Profiler, you know, break down rookies and do analysis and stuff.
15:22You know, it feels like the last two years.
15:25And I feel like I've said this if you've watched my content.
15:29You know, I apologize for saying this again, but I just can't say it enough.
15:34It feels like the last two years it's been shiny new toy in Chicago and everyone's excited about the new young player.
15:41Right. You know, it's like, you know, it's it's like Luther Burden gets there or say Roma Dunze.
15:47And then it was kind of like Keenan Allen, DJ Moore.
15:50Both those guys are kind of in the way.
15:53We're excited for Rome. And then, you know, Keenan Allen ended up being pretty good.
15:58Rome ended up being pretty decent. And then last year was Luther Burden's there.
16:02Loveland's there. You know, there's no DJ Moore. How is he going to be, you know, a factor?
16:08And then the guy gets 100 targets. He ends up being their biggest player in the biggest moments outside of Caleb Williams down the stretch last year.
16:17It was like the most important guy. So I feel like there's this this this notion that he is a washed player or he's not that good.
16:25And I get he's 29, but he's also playing with Josh Allen, who is going to extend plays.
16:31And to your point, Jeff, is going to match his skill set perfectly in that backyard football environment where DJ maybe kind of freestyles a little bit.
16:40Like, so does Josh. Like, I expect them to be kind of hitting on all cylinders.
16:45And there's not a lot of target competition there, Jeff.
16:48Yeah. Yeah. Shakir. The one good thing with Kalu Shakir was he looked pretty good coming off of he had tightrope procedure
16:55on his right ankle, which is good for him.
16:58If you're looking at him at much cheaper costs, I'm actually in on Shakir, too.
17:03He had a right high ankle sprain in 2024, played through it.
17:06He had another right high ankle sprain in 2025, played through an unstable ankle the whole season, had less production.
17:13Everything dipped from an advanced metric standpoint. And then he finally got it worked on surgically in February, I believe.
17:19And he looked pretty good. So, yeah, I I'm not all that worried about I don't think Shakir is going to hold back DJ more.
17:27Dalton Kincaid might, but it sounds like they're still going to be managing his snaps and utilize in usage routes run all that still.
17:35He's not 100 percent off the PCL injury. We still have to be concerned about that.
17:40But, yeah, I I find myself drafting DJ more in a lot of leagues.
17:44Yeah, me, too. Speaking of drafting in a lot of leagues, we're going to take a quick break here.
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19:46Jeff, I was thinking of a movie quote. Have you seen Step Brothers before?
19:51Yeah. Yeah. Okay. When I was thinking about the bear situation, I was thinking about that one.
19:56There's a scene in it when he goes, you know, you've had the old bull.
20:01Now you want the young calf, right? And then he says, and then he grabbed me by the weenie.
20:07Well, she grabbed me by the wiener. Um, that's, that was like, that's exactly how I feel about this, this bear situation.
20:14Like, you know, you got a reliable DJ Moore who's putting up a thousand yards every single year early on his career.
20:21It's boring. And now you kind of want the young stud, right?
20:25Roma Dunze, Loveland, Luther Byrd. And heck, now it's happening with Roma Dunze, it feels like where, you know, Rome, everyone's kind
20:32of worried about him a little bit. And Rome was not on the show sheet, but curious a little bit since, since
20:39I'm talking about Rome and we've got this whole foot thing and people are kind of skittish about him.
20:45And it's about this new normal thing. Right. And, and I feel like for athletes, like anybody that's played football, your body,
20:52you know, if you played football, your freshman year of high school compared to your senior year of high school and you
20:59played and you were a starter, right? Your body, you've got new injuries.
21:03Your body does not feel the same. I mean, hopefully you grow and you, and you get stronger, but the point is injuries happen, right?
21:11Guys are never fully the same. I mean, you see these guys that play offensive line and their fingers are mangled and
21:18they're all, you know what I mean? So like the new normal thing, I feel like was blown out of proportion a little bit for Roma Dunze.
21:27He goes off the board at pick 51. What's your thoughts on Rome?
21:31Like just, you know, there are a lot of people that have concern about that foot and now there's all these people
21:38around him, but he's the cheapest option out of this bears wide receiver or skill or pass catcher group.
21:44Cause the Andre Swift is kind of right in his range to a little bit cheaper.
21:49What are your thoughts on Roma? Do you think that this foot injury is something to be concerned about?
21:55Yeah. So one, one question that you put at the very top, um, that we didn't go over, you asked for fancy purposes, sorry, which is totally fine.
22:04Uh, for fancy purposes, what patterns make you say this player genuinely carries more risk than the average player.
22:10And my answer would have been, um, actually lower extremity injuries, especially anything that can alter your biomechanics.
22:16And that is exactly what goes through my mind when thinking of the Roma Dunze situation is if you have a new
22:23normal, I mean, when, especially as a wide receiver, you're running routes, you're cutting, you're accelerating, you're decelerating, you're changing directions fast.
22:30I don't like everything's going Jeff. What? I don't like where this is going.
22:34Well, I'll end it on a good note. Um, everything starts at the foot, right?
22:39Everything starts at the heel. So all of that load bearing, I mean, I just don't love where that's going to, I
22:46don't love the optics for Roma Dunze. And he even told media, oh, that quote was blown out of proportion.
22:53I just meant I'm, I'm still getting used to how it feels.
22:56You know, he kind of downplayed it after the fact, but I don't know, listening to a lot of these players talk
23:03with media when they say something, there's some truth to it.
23:07There's, there's an underlying, they're, they're thinking something, you know what I mean?
23:11Yeah. So I do have concern that a stress fracture that, and just thinking from the injury standpoint of how tissue heals
23:18a stress fracture that he tried to play through for multiple weeks, wasn't diagnosed properly.
23:23That can create a malunion where it doesn't heal properly.
23:26It, it forms in a way that it doesn't align like his prior bone aligned.
23:31It can change the alignment. That's where my mind goes when I hear new normal, especially with the foot.
23:37So I don't love that. I also don't love the fact that his role specific in the offense is the one role
23:44where Caleb Williams is the weakest downfield targets. He throws one of the lowest catchable target rates, I think downfield towards Rome's, you know, role.
23:52Not great. So like all of that could be better.
23:55However, then you have to take into account Luther Burton's injury, which I'm not actually fading him for the injury itself, but
24:02the fact that he's injured, uh, Ben Johnson is talking about wanting to have the best highest scoring offense, fast paced offense in the league.
24:10Um, all of that. He's, he's really honing in on improving first read throws, uh, which I'm sure Roma Duneze will get
24:17plenty of first read throws or targets still, and then improving Caleb Williams, uh, catchable target rate, which again, there's only so
24:24much Ben Johnson can do with that. At first I was heavily fading Roma Duneze, but honestly, the more I look into
24:31this and the more I hear Ben Johnson talk and it can be all talk.
24:36We have to see the offense play out. I want to invest in all three of these.
24:41Cause I don't let me know your thoughts in Chicago.
24:44I feel like it's going to be super condensed into all three of those guys, burden, Loveland and a Duneze, and all
24:51three could pan out at, at ADP. Yeah. I, when the, the, we can expect the most with Loveland, right?
24:58With burden and with Rome, right? There's a kind of, uh, you know, it's kind of cat and mouse.
25:04Like we don't, we, we think we can project it, but we don't really know.
25:09And I don't, the thing that makes it tougher is I typically am just not a guy that drafts tight ends high, right?
25:16That's my problem. I want Loveland. He's the one I want the most out of all three, but I, we talked about chasing the running back position.
25:25It just really depends on how the draft falls for me, because, you know, if, if I don't secure an elite running
25:32back in round one or two, you know, now I'm taking a luxury pick at the tight end position.
25:38If it's not a tight end premium and he's a high fourth round pick.
25:42And now I'm like, okay, well now I'm chasing some position.
25:46Now I'd rather be chasing wide receiver than running back because there is a lot of value, you know, in those mid rounds this year.
25:54So, um, but Loveland's really the guy that I want the most, uh, if I was to take a chance on any
26:01of those guys, but with burden and with Rome, you know, I look at the two of them and I say, I'm
26:08not sure which one's going to be better. So I usually default to who's cheaper and burden while the injury doesn't seem scary.
26:15The fact that he's already had one usually says, okay, he's more expensive and he's got an injury where, when I see guys that go around burden, right?
26:24I love DJ more DJ more goes a little bit behind burden five slots behind him.
26:29Parker Washington. Um, I happen to really like as well.
26:32I know people feel like it's a lot of smoke and fire with him, but still I'm pretty high on Washington.
26:39I don't know where you're at with him too.
26:42Um, and then you look at guys like you got Mike Evans right behind Roma dunes day, who I really, really liked this year too.
26:50And it starts, you kind of just say like, I could see Mike Evans, Devante Adams, Parker Washington, DJ more, Terry McLaurin,
26:57all of those guys beating out Luther pretty easily.
27:00And they've all got a proven track record except Parker Washington.
27:03But the truth is Parker did show what Parker showed at the end of last year was better than what burden showed in his whole rookie season.
27:12So it's like, but the burden's the most expensive one.
27:15And there's a chance burdens in the lowest passing offense out of all those that we just talked about.
27:21So that's where I have hesitations with burden. Um, so, you know, curious your kind of thoughts on that, because that's, that's
27:28what makes me more hesitant to draft him. Yeah.
27:31I mean, very valid. I think this is why I like, uh, rostering Luther burden and dynasty leagues more than having to worry about it and redraft.
27:40So I don't have to pick, um, from an injury standpoint, I'll talk on that first.
27:45Um, apparently he told training staff that it felt bad, but you know, we don't know, we never know what exactly that means.
27:52But two days after the fact, two days after that injury occurred, we saw him walking around.
27:57And if it was a true grade two groin strain, he would have, he would have been walking with a limp.
28:04He would have been, you know, he would have been lumbering a little bit and he was walking no problem at a pretty good pace.
28:12Um, so it honestly makes me think, and after seeing the report that it could be close to a month, three weeks,
28:19I honestly think it's closer to a grade one groin strain for Luther burden.
28:24And it's preseason. It's kind of like Brees Hall's situation.
28:27It's preseason. You can kind of slow play it.
28:30Uh, they, they've seen what they need to see out of burden.
28:33He, it sounds like he has a very good understanding of the offense this year, which last year, he didn't have a
28:41very good off, um, understanding of the offense. He was lining up improperly running the wrong routes, not, not making the right
28:48reads and zone, um, fitting Caleb Williams where he was throwing that led to a big interception.
28:53Um, so I, everything I've seen on burden has me a little more hyped on him this year.
28:59And obviously that I would hope so based on the cost, but you're right.
29:03I think, you know, there, there's a lot of risk here.
29:07I have less than a 10% re-injury risk on the groin injury for burden.
29:11And I don't think it's going to impact his production early in season.
29:15Um, but there's risk that, yeah, this could be a low scoring offense, despite what they plan to do and what they hope to do with offense.
29:24Sure. Let's, uh, let's shift over to Brees Hall now.
29:27Um, you know, cause I feel like with burden, we we've kind of, you know, we've kind of gone through Rome burden now.
29:34So we've kind of touched on both. Um, let's shift over to Brees Hall though.
29:39Right. A recent injury that pops up today. I mean, this one's a little bit confusing, Jeff, and, and maybe you can,
29:46uh, shed some light on it at least, or, and maybe, maybe just give us your initial thoughts.
29:52Cause it's very confusing how the reporting has came out.
29:55Um, the latest report, right. I think it was from Connor Hughes, um, over with the jets.
30:01He said pretty much, it sounds like, uh, that, that it's, it's, it's minor and, uh, it's day to day, but could be a couple of weeks.
30:09Um, I don't love hearing, like when you start adding both of those, it just makes you feel like the coach, like
30:16Aaron Glenn is just throwing crap at the wall.
30:19It reminds me of like almost Todd Bowles, like last year with Bucky Irving, where it's like week to week.
30:25And then it's month to month. Uh, you know, it's kind of, and then you think of what he said about a
30:32Guka today too, which we'll get to, but I, I don't know.
30:36I mean, I'm not, I'm not very worried about the Brees Hall situation.
30:40To be honest, it seems like it was minor Jeff, but what's your read on the entire thing?
30:46Yeah. Pretty, pretty similar to burden situations, to be honest.
30:49And it's so funny. You just said that about Bowles because he literally said that today about Amika.
30:55Oh, it's day to day, week to week. It's like, what does that, what does that mean?
31:01Terrible coach. Um, but yeah, with Hall. So I think majority of the concern was the fact that he went down.
31:07Initial reports said that he went down with a non-contact injury.
31:11So anytime you read that, it's like, oh boy, what happened?
31:14This is going to be bad. Um, honestly, if you've ever had a groin, groin injury, it is very painful initially.
31:21Um, even if it's just a grade one or grade two.
31:24So with him, it does sound like the reports after imaging came out, um, the reports are that it is minor, which is good.
31:32And it sounds like it's going to be a two to three week ordeal for Brees Hall.
31:38Uh, and, and there was a report. I think it was from Connor Hughes that said it's going to be weeks, not months.
31:45So that was a good sign. I read all those reports as a good, good sign for them and a quick return.
31:52And I, again, with these, with guys like Burden has a little more to prove, obviously, but with Hall, guys like Hall,
31:59um, guys like, I'm trying to think of somebody else.
32:02But basically these guys who Mike, Mike, Mike Evans, they're veterans.
32:06They've been around for a while. They have a good understanding of the offense.
32:10They don't need to participate a ton in preseason.
32:13Um, teams have seen what they need to see.
32:16So I'm fine in this situation with them slow playing it in preseason.
32:20It's a two to three week injury. I would not be surprised if this Hall groin injury was a week or two in season.
32:28Like if we were in season in regular season right now, if he missed a week or two and then he's back.
32:35Like versus longer right now in preseason. Okay. Yeah.
32:38And that's, at least that's good to hear. Um, and then, you know, you have Isaiah Davis, um, you know, he's out still a couple of weeks.
32:46Yeah. You have Davis, right. He's out a couple of weeks.
32:50You have Braylon Allen. Um, those are the backups, right?
32:53I assume you probably prefer Allen. If you were to cuff, cuff him with any of those guys.
32:59Me personally. Yeah. Yeah. Especially after what he showed.
33:01I'm always a little concerned when you hear these reports of so-and-so has put on a ton of pounds.
33:07I guess he's up to like 240 something, which is massive.
33:11Um, I, I, I thought, you know, he was going to switch to fullback or something, but you see the touch.
33:18Yeah. You see the touchdown run in preseason week one.
33:21He's like, he still has explosiveness burst. So that's good.
33:24Good to see. Um, I, I would expect Allen to be the main, and we've seen his receiving upside as well in, in past years.
33:32So I would, I would say Allen's probably the handcuff to have, but I'm really not that worried about Brees Hall going into the season.
33:40I'm still drafting him where he is. Okay. Yeah.
33:43And, and that was going to be my next question with Brees Hall.
33:47I mean, with Brees Hall going off the board at pick 38, uh, Brees Hall, Luther Burden, right?
33:53I mean, does it depend for you? The funniest thing is you have Josh Allen, you have Brees Hall, you have Luther Burden.
34:00Those three go back to back to back, right?
34:03On one hand, you could take Josh Allen, feel really good about yourself.
34:07Say, I know what I'm getting here. This guy's been top two in fantasy for the last six years.
34:13I know I'm getting a clear edge at the position, right?
34:17But I'm also taking quarterback high. If you like doing that, it's not a big deal.
34:22If you don't like doing that, right? Then you're like, oh man, definitely not taking Allen just because I don't want to
34:29be chasing the positions, which is what we talked about when you draft tight end, right?
34:34You have Allen there, right? It feels really comfortable of a pick though, just from a standpoint of, you know what you're getting.
34:41Then you have Brees Hall, Luther Burden between the two of those guys in a vacuum for you because they go back to back.
34:49Do you have a preference on which guy you would be clicking more?
34:53Like forgetting about like, if you have a team build up, you've already selected wide receiver, wide receiver.
34:59Now you need a running back, vice versa. Forgetting about what your team looks like.
35:04Just the two players straight up. Who would you prefer if you were drafting today?
35:08I love Brees Hall, but I'm taking Luther Burden over him every time.
35:13Mostly thinking through, I'd rather have Ben Johnson's potential wide receiver one working across the middle of the field, explosive plays, et cetera.
35:20And I know everything we just talked about, Burden, Adunze versus Loveland, et cetera.
35:24Um, I'd rather chase that upside versus Frank Reich's running back one, who also has a pretty extensive injury history.
35:31Um, but the Jets, which team's going to be better?
35:34Bears or Jets? I think I'd rather chase Burden there.
35:37And honestly, with the quarterbacks, I was going to talk about this with Jackson Dart too.
35:42I'm actually personally never quarterback early because you can get guys like Brock Purdy later.
35:47You can get Tyler Shuck later. You can get Malik Willis super late, Kyler Murray, some of these guys with rushing upside.
35:54We saw it with Justin Fields, terrible passer. He was still scoring as a top 10 quarterback in his starts because of his rushing upside.
36:02We're probably going to be seeing something similar with Kyler Murray and Malik Willis, even though we don't, they may not be good passers.
36:10I have a little more hope with Willis. We know Kyler isn't very good.
36:14Yeah. I, I almost want to, so just, just from a, from a, from a Kyler standpoint, let's veer, veer another way here for a second.
36:22So I put out a post today and I said, you know, how can I be so convinced that I'd rather have,
36:29you know, someone tells me you, you much rather have Justin Jefferson paired up with Kyler, not from a standpoint of you
36:36get Kyler too, but just having drafting Justin Jefferson over AJ Brown with Drake May.
36:41Now, what are your thoughts of the two guys, right?
36:44Drake, I mean, AJ Brown, I know there's people talk about the regression.
36:49There was rumors that the Rams looked at his neticles and didn't like his knee and, you know, who really knows what's going on with that knee.
36:57If that's a real thing. You know, both guys looked kind of disconnected towards the end of their seasons last year with Jefferson and AJ cause just frustrations.
37:06But I look at the situation, Jeff, and I say better quarterback, you know, the best quarterback AJ has ever played with by far.
37:14I mean, nothing to take away from Jalen Hurts, but first from a passing standpoint, quarterback friendly for fantasy.
37:20I have to imagine Drake May is going to be more friendly versus Kyler, who I feel like it's going to be chunk plays.
37:27Kyler is going to be more of that guy that can throw the deep ball, you know, backyard football, kind of like
37:34we talked about with DJ Moore and Josh Allen, but the layups, the small volume in the short areas, I feel like
37:41we'll be lacking where Jefferson may not have that high of a floor.
37:46What are your thoughts on those two players? I know it's, it's scary to say you would not prefer Jefferson because he's such a more talented player, Jeff.
37:55But do you have a preference and do you buy into the AJ decline with the knee and have any concerns there?
38:02Yeah. Super interesting question. Um, I do buy into the AJ Brown decline and I'm, I'm actually pretty concerned about his knee
38:09just from a term, the terms of degeneration, uh, you know, he's been on record of his knee swelling, having to get
38:16his knee drained multiple times week after week after week.
38:19Didn't have many issues last year, but obviously we saw the decline in, in separation in explosiveness.
38:24But again, part of that could be the offensive structure.
38:27It's so hard to figure all that out. Um, Kevin Petula, but I would say, I think the difference there, man, I, I really trust Kevin O'Connell.
38:36So this is a super hard decision and Justin Jefferson's very, very good, arguably wide receiver one or wide receiver two overall and talent.
38:44Um, but I actually trust between that, those two, I trust the Patriots.
38:48I love the fact that they still have Kashaun and I love that they brought in Romeo Dobbs, do you have Dobbs?
38:55Um, because I do think it frees up AJ Brown to play more of a big slot role where he can get
39:02these matchup mismatches where you don't have to worry as much about the decline.
39:06You don't have to worry as much about the loss of, you know, any regression explosiveness and separation.
39:12And you just get the ball into his hands and have him break tackles.
39:17He's still big, strong, powerful. Um, but I, I do have, I have concerns about the knee and I have concerns about his hamstrings.
39:24Yeah. The hamstring is, is where I get a little bit more concerned with AJ because it's, it's been a consistent pop-up for him the last two seasons.
39:33Um, the knee, I, I, I don't know enough from a doctor PT standpoint to really speak on the knee.
39:40Um, I, I feel like just watching the separation stuff, it just felt like, again, he was just uninterested at times and
39:47it just felt like a little diva ish. Um, I feel like I just trust the floor and I feel like the
39:54ceiling for Jefferson, unless Kyler is, is just above average.
39:57I don't know what that ceiling looks like for Jefferson and, and, and the ceiling feels like some volatile games potentially up and down.
40:04Now I do think, like you said, Kevin O'Connell, I trust him.
40:08He's going to say, Hey, we can't let this crap happen again this year with our star player in Jefferson.
40:15I'm sure he's not going to want to have an issue or, or anything there, but what if Kyler is bad?
40:21What if Kyler is not that good? And then JJ becomes the guy for an extended look the last five, six games of the year.
40:29And now you're stuck with Jefferson with JJ throwing him the football.
40:33I think that's a real possibility. If this team isn't that good, if Kyler struggles.
40:38Cup, couple thoughts. That's I'll go with Minnesota first one.
40:41Are we sure it's going to be JJ McCarthy is the backup still, or will it be Carson Wentz?
40:47And when Carson Wentz was healthy, I forget what Justin Jefferson's points per game were, but he was, he was lighting it up.
40:54Yeah. He was, he was hyper, hyper focused on him.
40:58Yeah. Which I would rather have that. It's almost like a Mac Jones to Brian Thomas jr.
41:03Situation. Which like, I don't care if he's bad at football.
41:07I mean, not necessarily bad at football, but like not helping Minnesota necessarily win just feed Justin Jefferson.
41:12That's the game plan, you know? Um, so I, I'm not overly convinced that JJ McCarthy would be the starting quarterback.
41:19Um, sorry, Thor, but, um, what was the other thought I had?
41:23Yeah. Thor's been poor Thor. Um, oh, I do think there's a lot of correlation between AJ Brown's knee and the hamstring.
41:30And there's a lot of, in research, you'll see, you'll see like degeneration, swelling, cartilage issues leading to hamstring or soft tissue injuries on the same side.
41:38Okay. Interesting. I was, while you were talking, I was trying to see if I could look up, uh, the Justin Jefferson with Carson Wentz stats.
41:47Uh, I'm going to see if I can, he was up there.
41:51I want to say he was scoring as like a top six wide receiver.
41:55And then, and then Carson Wentz fractured his scapula.
41:58Yeah, that was tough. That was tough. It was a mistake.
42:01I think it was a mistake altogether, not last year, but I think it was the year before, but like, you know,
42:08they, they, they just didn't really have a strong backup plan.
42:12You know, it was like, it was like two rookies with when, when JJ was a rookie.
42:17Um, and they just had to, you know, bring somebody in later on in the season that, that was an entire mess.
42:24Um, but it's a good discussion to have. You didn't sway me, Jeff, but I'm a tough guy to, to move off
42:31of my takes when I'm, when I feel pretty strong about it.
42:35I will say looking at the stats with Carson Wentz, it was weeks three, four, five, six and three, four, five, six, three, four, five, seven, eight.
42:44We averaged 10 targets a game, 6.8 receptions a game, 95 yards, no receiving touchdowns though in that stretch, uh, and yards after catches 43.4.
42:52That might be wrong. So don't listen to that part.
42:55Uh, yeah. Guards per catch. That was 14. So, I mean, he, he had 50 targets, 34 catches, 477 yards.
43:01He just didn't score touchdowns, which again, though, the volume is there, but did you just say Garrett Wilson?
43:07Yeah. And that's, and it's crazy. You say that because that has been what I keep thinking about where we, we get
43:14this tough part in fantasy where it's like talent or situation, right?
43:18Like, you know, talent beats situation. People, we always kind of go with that, but like, that's what I worry about for Jefferson, right?
43:26Situation. Thankfully is Kevin O'Connell's there, but you know, there, you know, now you have Juwan Jennings there.
43:32Ty Felton looks like he may have taken Juwan Jennings his spot in preseason.
43:36I don't know. There were some rumblings that it looks like he might be playing ahead of him, but there's still a little more analysis to feed.
43:45I'm not saying those guys are going to going to take it away from Jefferson, but I just, again, I just worry
43:52about what the floor looks like with Kyler. And that's why Wentz is so nice because I, which is such a crazy
43:59thing to come out of my mouth, but it's just the pocket passer is just that can facilitate and just play point guard, right?
44:06Like that's why Joe Flacco looks really good when he goes in there and he's good for fantasy.
44:12We saw it with Josh Downs with the Colts for a couple of games.
44:17We obviously saw how he was able to kind of keep the floor and keep those ceilings for, for T Higgins, Jamal
44:24or chase when he did come in too. So it's an interesting topic and it's an interesting discussion.
44:29I'm curious to see where things go and where things settle because Jefferson's still a first round pick right now.
44:36I do want to talk about two more players and then we'll get you out of here, but I do want to
44:43take one more quick break and then we'll come back on the other side.
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46:41We've got two more players to talk about and then we'll get you guys out of here.
46:46Alec Pierce, Jeff. Alec Pierce is a player that, I mean, again, if you follow Jeff on Twitter, Alec Pierce, you think
46:53Jeff and him have issues or something because, Jeff, you do not seem like a big fan of Alec Pierce.
46:59He's going off the board at pick 82. Talk to us about him.
47:04What's really going on? Ankle, foot. It feels like we've got a lot of mixed messaging over there with the Colts.
47:10I have no personal beef with Alec Pierce. He would beat me up.
47:14On the record. On the record. On the record.
47:17On the record. I just don't like his ankle.
47:20Yeah. So we don't have exact details, but everything from the timetable, from the video in late May of him walking and
47:27not being able to step up over through his foot, through his ankle, called ankle rocker.
47:32He's just, he wasn't able to step through that, which is pretty important for route running.
47:37Everything makes me think he had surgery on his talus, which is one of the main load-bearing bones in your foot.
47:44We are now three weeks, or close to three weeks away from week one.
47:48He hasn't fully participated in practice. He hasn't even participated in practice.
47:52He's just doing individual drills and stuff with trainers off to the side.
47:56We have no idea if he's sprinting full speed.
47:59It's probably not. Walking, he still isn't fully stepping through his ankle.
48:03Still lacking a little bit of dorsiflexion. So for me, every year you look at, you know, is injury prone real?
48:10Is it not? Jordan Tyson, great example right now.
48:13Injury prone. Very injury prone. Alec Pierce, if you put him on a football field right now and had him sprint full
48:20speed for, I don't know, 40 routes, just say, whatever.
48:23To me, he's going to be injury prone. Like I said earlier with Roma Dunze, just everything starts at the foot from a biomechanical standpoint.
48:31He's going to be compensating. He's not going to be moving like his normal self.
48:36He's probably not going to be sprinting full speed.
48:39Probably not going to be cutting sharply off that foot.
48:42But, and Chris Ballard expects him to be ready in three weeks from now.
48:46Like I just, all of it's not adding up to me.
48:50How much time he's lost from a conditioning standpoint.
48:53How much time he's lost from, you know, he, Michael Pittman's gone.
48:56Michael Pittman Jr.'s gone. We anticipate with Alec Pierce's new price that he's going to be accepting a different workload of some sorts.
49:04Versus just being the vertical threat that he's supposed to be.
49:07Especially because of his contract. It's like he's supposed to get more targets and all that.
49:12He hasn't had time to work on it. He hasn't had time to be with the offense.
49:18So, I don't like his price tag at all.
49:21And every time I look at where he's at in drafts, I would anticipate he's dropped a little bit more.
49:27But like Sam Laporta, Harold Fannin, Cale Williams, Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Chris Godwin.
49:32I'd rather take Godwin. Michael Wilson, I'd rather take him.
49:35There's so many players where I'm just like, I, I would much rather take this player over the risk of Pierce missing
49:42the first four games of the season. And then coming back, ramping up, not even at 100% for the next four weeks.
49:49So, you have, you're now eight weeks in hoping that you can get good production out of this guy.
49:55Yeah, I would. So, for me, and I'm going to share what the ADP looks like right now on NFFC.
50:01Like, this is the range of players that I would be okay taking him at.
50:06Like, the Romeo Dobbs area. Like, this is about where.
50:09And I actually have, I have Debo and Jalen Coger inside my top 100.
50:14So, while this is not my rankings, right, this is just what ADP is right now.
50:19Like, I would take Debo and Jalen Coger over Alec Pierce right now, to be completely honest with the two.
50:25I mean, if you care, if you punt at the quarterback position, you mean that you can even take, argue Matthew Stafford and Travis Kelsey.
50:33I mean, I also have Kelsey inside my top 100, too.
50:37So, spoiler alert. So, that's not that crazy for me.
50:40But, like you said, Alec Pierce is also a guy that's going to be relied on to run deep down the field.
50:47I mean, that's what he specializes in. And it's like, you're going to expect him to run fly routes, like you said, 30, 40 times a game.
50:55It just doesn't feel or pass the smell test for me.
50:59And it's just one of those situations where I'll let somebody else take the bait and I'll go draft somebody else in his range.
51:07Speaking of Alec Pierce, though, you have Josh Downs, you have Tyler Warren.
51:11I know Josh Downs, there was a little bit of a hiccup there with him and the injury bug as well.
51:17But do you like Tyler Warren and Josh Downs this year, those guys that you've been targeting on your end?
51:24I love Tyler. Yeah, I love Tyler Warren. And he's going to be – you talked about taking Colson Loveland and not
51:31loving to take tight end that high. Like, I would almost rather, in redraft best ball, I would almost rather just wait and take Tyler Warren later.
51:39Yeah. Although he's not going that much later, I guess.
51:43He's going to pick 55. I mean, Loveland's 45.
51:45I mean, that's a full round that you have a chance.
51:49And a lot of running backs, you now have a chance to go draft.
51:53Yeah, and here's the thing, too. Another reason why I love Tyler Warren so much is you also have, in all of
52:00these factors, you have the Pierce issue. In all of these factors, you have Daniel Jones still coming off right Achilles surgery.
52:07And he's doing well in practice. Like, he has pretty good zip.
52:11But he even told media recently, like, yeah, it's not 100%.
52:15I still have a couple things I'm trying to work through.
52:18One of the biggest factors or areas that quarterbacks, right-handed quarterbacks with right Achilles, struggle with is deep targets down the field.
52:25Which is – that's the connection that he has with Alec Pierce.
52:29So if both these guys were healthy, both of them – both Pierce and Daniel Jones would be going significantly higher.
52:36And I would be drafting them. They're not healthy.
52:39They haven't had time to work on that timing.
52:42And I'm going to have some accuracy and velocity concerns with Daniel Jones past 15, 20 yards.
52:47So all of this just makes me think, okay, I want Tyler Warren for this whole season.
52:52The downside with Jonathan Taylor and Tyler Warren, who I love both of them, is they don't have – or they won't
52:59have a fully effective Alec Pierce running downfield pulling the defense.
53:03Stretching it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good point.
53:06And we'll talk about one more guy that's not injured but situation a little murky because of potential injuries around him.
53:13And it's Drake London, right? And I think a lot about Drake London because he had some injuries a little bit last year too.
53:20And you talked about the Achilles. And we've seen it.
53:23Like Kirk Cousins, right? Like it took him a little bit of time to come back.
53:28Like when he's planting on the back foot with the Achilles, right?
53:32And that velocity on the ball we saw with Rodgers as well.
53:36It took him a lot of time to kind of come back.
53:40And he's – those are older players. Right now you have Tua.
53:44You have Michael Penix. It looks like Tua is going to be the starter week one.
53:49But when we talk about pushing the ball downfield, right?
53:52Drake London has feasted, right, down the field as a big target.
53:56And he can win as a three-level receiver. But my concerns with Drake London, and I'm curious if you have similar ones as well.
54:04If Tua does not have the ability to push the ball down the field like we saw with Penix who can uncourt
54:11the football deep and give him a chance. And so could Cousins.
54:14Do you have concerns that like Drake London's ADOT may come down a little bit?
54:19And then possibly the touchdowns are not there nearly as much because his offense is very disjointed?
54:25I mean I trust Kevin Stefanski, but with Kirk Cousins and Penix, at least they were both healthy going into the year.
54:32And Cousins was a veteran. He could kind of keep the ship steady when Penix did go down.
54:37So what are your thoughts on London? Because I'm actually pretty low on London.
54:42I don't have – I'm not taking him inside the first two rounds, which sounds crazy to a lot of people.
54:49But I'm just not – I'm not there. I don't think he's going to be a top 12 wide receiver this year.
54:56Man, that's – it's so crazy. Honestly, it's – you probably feel crazy saying that.
55:00But honestly, like it's – I think that's valid because Tua, one, I mean he looks terrible.
55:06He looked terrible preseason week one. He has a very extensive injury history and he has been dealing with back discomfort.
55:12So I do think that's playing a role in it.
55:16And then Michael Penix – so like if Tua doesn't pan out, which I think is very possible, Michael Penix is next
55:23man up and he's coming off left ACL surgery.
55:26And he's not even cleared for 11 on 11s yet.
55:29Yeah. And we're three weeks away from the season.
55:32And again, from that – so I just talked about right-handed quarterbacks with right Achilles, just being able to push through that foot, generating velocity, et cetera.
55:40You're going to have the same issue with Michael Penix as a left-handed thrower with a left ACL return.
55:46And again, he hasn't had any of that time working through timing and routes and sequencing with Drake London.
55:52So I forget where I wrote that. Maybe in one of my Fantasy Points articles recently.
55:57But I'm actually concerned about Drake London, his cost.
56:00Yeah. A little bit bombshell actually. Not necessarily bombshell but something we really need to watch.
56:05Do you have any other comment on Drake London or Atlanta?
56:09No, no. That was it. I mean I just wanted to mention he's going off the board at pick 18.
56:15So you're talking a mid-second round pick and sometimes a little bit higher.
56:19Okay. I think – I hope this video is right.
56:23I haven't said this at all on Twitter or anything.
56:26Oh, boy. But you know what? It's a Dov.
56:29It's a Dov Kleiman video. So maybe it's old.
56:32Yeah. Maybe I don't even want to say it.
56:34All right. Well, we'll wait until off air. Maybe you can show me after then just in case.
56:40We don't want a video to drop and then it ends up being BS.
56:45But – There's a video of him with tape on his left knee and that's the knee that he had.
56:51I thought about it because Drake London is PCL.
56:54Oh, God. Well, just show me after. But before I get you out of here, two things.
56:59One, I want to talk about what you're working on a little bit.
57:03But two, give me your – one of your bold predictions for this year, whether it's you're really in on a guy
57:10or a guy that you're maybe really out on.
57:13Just a bold prediction for you and this upcoming season.
57:17Well, working on – so yeah, I'm with Fancy Points this year now.
57:21Working on some articles. I just posted a preseason article with a lot of these injuries that we talked about.
57:27So follow me on there just for injury content throughout the season.
57:31And then, yeah, bold take. Man. Kenneth Walker is going to score as a top five running back.
57:37Okay. Okay. Not that bold for me either because, I mean, I have Walker at the one-two turn right now.
57:43And I think I have him valued at like as a top 12 guy.
57:47I think he's like right inside my top 12.
57:50So I don't think you're that – it's that crazy, man.
57:54I'm a big fan of Walker this year. But cool, man.
57:57Well, hey, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you guys so much for watching.
58:02Make sure you like, subscribe. Make sure you follow Jeff on Twitter.
58:06If you're on the audio side, you can follow him at J-M-T-H-R-I-V-E-P-T.
58:10I'm not going to try to pronounce it because I think it's just J-M-Thrive-P-T.
58:14I could have just said that. But I always like to spell it just in case because I am very bad at pronouncing things, especially player names.
58:23But Jeff, thanks so much for giving us your time.
58:26Thank you guys so much for watching. Make sure you like, subscribe, and we'll see you guys next time.
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