FREE YACHT CLUB EP: How Our Week 1 Ranks Vary From Our Season Ranks
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
1 hr 6 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 9, 2026
Published
Wed, September 9, 2026
28
Player insights
26
Players mentioned
Topics
Breece HallMalik NabersAlec PierceBrian RobinsonChris BrooksChristian McCaffreyChuba HubbardCorey KinerD'Andre SwiftDrake LondonEmeka EgbukaGeorge KittleJ.K. DobbinsJa'Marr Chase
Player analysis
Player insights
Alec Pierce
NegativeProjection50:27
Pierce is ranked low (WR39-43) for Week 1 due to uncertainty regarding his ankle and a desire to see him perform in the offense before trusting him as a starter.
Insight pageBreece Hall
NegativeInjury20:50
The source views Breece Hall as the potential engine of the Jets offense against the Titans, but notes a legitimate concern regarding a recurring groin strain injury, which carries a risk of recurrence upon returning to play.
Insight pageNegativeInjury30:25
Hall is dealing with a groin injury, causing him to drop to RB20 in the source's rankings. Despite the injury risk and the layoff, the source acknowledges he is likely a must-start if active.
Insight pageBrian Robinson
NegativeUsage39:41
The source advises against being aggressive with Commanders running backs, including Brian Robinson Jr., due to offensive line concerns and a tough Week 1 matchup against the Eagles.
Insight pageChris Brooks
NegativeRole37:09
The source notes that Chris Brooks is a strong pass protector and could see the field for the Packers to help protect Jordan Love, potentially impacting MarShawn Lloyd's snap share.
Insight pageChristian McCaffrey
PositiveInjury17:17
Despite reports of muscle tightness, the source maintains McCaffrey's ranking and advises managers to start him. The injury is viewed as a maintenance issue following his 450-touch workload last season, and he is considered healthy enough to play.
Insight pageChuba Hubbard
PositiveUsage31:18
The source feels more secure in Chuba Hubbard's status for Week 1 compared to Jonathan Brooks, ranking him at RB30. The source views him as the safer option given the uncertainty surrounding Brooks's health.
Insight pageCorey Kiner
PositiveUsage26:34
With Travion Henderson out, Kiner is expected to see a cameo role in the offense, making him a player of interest for potential touches.
Insight pageD'Andre Swift
PositiveUsage24:44
The source ranks D'Andre Swift as RB20 and views him as a 'full guy' to start in Week 1. Despite a minor injury scare (cramp), he is considered good to go and is preferred over Khalil Herbert due to his superior pass-catching ability.
Insight pageDrake London
NegativeProjection44:02
The source maintains London as a WR1 (WR12 and WR8 respectively) despite concerns about Tua Tagovailoa as the quarterback, comparing the situation to Kirk Cousins or Desmond Ritter, suggesting he remains a must-start.
Insight pageEmeka Egbuka
NegativeInjury47:27
Egbuka is dealing with a turf toe injury that has kept him out for over a month. The source has lowered his ranking significantly, making him benchable for Week 1.
Insight pageGeorge Kittle
NegativeProjection55:05
Kittle is ranked as TE14. Despite coming off Achilles surgery, the source believes he will play and be utilized, making him a viable start if no better options exist.
Insight pageJ.K. Dobbins
PositiveUsage22:29
The source considers JK Dobbins a very good player and recommends starting him while he is healthy. Despite a training camp injury, he is back to normal and represents the healthiest version of himself, leading to an RB26 ranking for Week 1.
Insight pageJa'Marr Chase
NegativeInjury50:03
Chase is dealing with a mild knee hyperextension, but the source maintains him as their WR1.
Insight pageJadarian Price
NegativeProjection59:46
Price is ranked lower for Week 1 than his season-long rank due to uncertainty regarding his workload in his first start.
Insight pageJavonte Williams
NegativeValue22:08
The source ranks Javonte Williams at RB36 in draft ranks and maintains a similar position for Week 1, noting that the Broncos backfield members are ranked very closely together.
Insight pageJeremiyah Love
NegativeInjury27:09
Dealing with a high ankle sprain, Love has dropped from RB17 to RB29 in the source's rankings. The source expresses skepticism regarding team updates on his status, noting that ankle injuries are unpredictable.
Insight pageJonah Coleman
NegativeUsage22:12
The source remains low on Jonah Coleman, ranking him at RB51 for Week 1. Despite buzz about a potential role, the source advises against using him until there is evidence of actual usage, specifically noting that if Sean Payton uses him inside the five-yard line, the ranking will be re-evaluated.
Insight pageJonathon Brooks
NegativeInjury30:06
The source is pessimistic about Jonathan Brooks for Week 1, ranking him at RB41. The source cites the difficulty of returning from a second ACL tear and the lack of full practice participation as reasons to avoid him, despite some optimism from the team.
Insight pageKhalil Herbert
NegativeUsage24:12
The source notes uncertainty regarding Khalil Herbert's health and playing status, leading to a ranking around RB41. The source advises against starting him in Week 1 due to the lack of certainty regarding his health and role.
Insight pageLuther Burden
PositiveProjection45:28
The source ranks Burden ahead of Rome Odunze for Week 1, noting that while they were previously reversed, Burden's groin injury status has shifted the outlook.
Insight pageMalik Nabers
NegativeInjury42:02
The source ranks Malik Nabers at WR26 for Week 1, a 10-spot drop from his season-long rank. The source cites Nabers's own admission that he does not feel 'quite right' following his injury, making him a cautious start until he proves his health.
Insight pageNegativeInjury42:27
The source notes that Nabers is coming off a significant injury a year ago and relies on explosiveness; while he is a must-start for Week 1, the source remains concerned that he may not feel 100%.
Insight pageMarShawn Lloyd
NegativeUsage34:13
The source ranks MarShawn Lloyd at RB33 for Week 1, noting that while he is healthy, his extensive injury history and the Packers' committee approach make him a risky start. The source suggests waiting to see how the backfield usage shakes out.
Insight pageMike Evans
NegativeProjection52:45
Evans is ranked around WR30-31 for Week 1. The source notes he is battling various injuries and may be declining, but he remains a startable option depending on roster alternatives.
Insight pageRhamondre Stevenson
NegativeProjection23:37
With Travion Henderson out for Week 1, Stevenson is ranked as an RB18-20. While he has a full workload, the matchup against Seattle's strong defensive line makes the source cautious about ranking him higher.
Insight pageRome Odunze
NegativeInjury45:28
The source expresses concern over Odunze's injury, noting he is missing practice time before Week 1. If he does not practice by Friday, he will be removed from the rankings.
Insight pageTee Higgins
NegativeInjury49:53
Higgins is dealing with a heel injury but is back at practice; the source has not changed his ranking.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00It's the Harris Football Podcast with your host, Christopher Harris.
0:03What is going on? Hello, hello. We are joined by a much larger group today.
0:08Very exciting because Paywall Andy and I have decided to jump out from behind the Paywall on this Wednesday, September 9th and
0:15to throw open the doors for one episode to show everybody in the main Harris Football feed just what you're missing if you're not a YACHT CLUB subscriber.
0:24Hello, Paywall Andy. How are you today? I'm great.
0:26I'm great. Got to maintain the Paywall vibes though.
0:29It's going to be tough. Welcome in, everyone. Welcome in.
0:32It's good to be here on the big stage.
0:35I noticed what you did there. That's my patented line, welcome in, but you did it so calmly that people are like thrown off.
0:43I didn't you didn't scream it at them for the very first thing they hear.
0:48Indeed, we kind of decided to do this this morning.
0:51I on the on at the end of the Tuesday main show.
0:55I said, okay, talk to the rest of you on Thursday.
0:58And then I was like, why? Why did I say that?
1:01But anyway, hopefully everybody just kind of checked their feed and they're listening.
1:06Today, we have several things we're going to do.
1:08I think the biggest, the longest duration will be to talk about our week one ranks and specifically maybe how we felt
1:15like we did or didn't mix them up compared to our season long ranks.
1:20Because I think like aspirationally, you would want your week one ranks to somewhat resemble your season long ranks, because it'd be
1:27dumb to change your opinions based on the opponents and what you think the teams look like when we don't know the
1:34opponents and how good they are yet and how good the teams look so but but but injuries and various other things
1:41can affect the way we look at some of these players.
1:44So I listed like, I don't know, 15 or 20 players for us to talk about.
1:49Do you want a movie draft update? This is not you know, I do.
1:53It's not you know, happy news. I mean, I the good thing about you, I have to be on you've been such
2:00a good sport through your your fallow time. I don't mean that sarcastically.
2:05You've been you've been a good sport about sure, give me an update, even though I stink and I'm getting murdered.
2:11Well, you're not getting murdered this time around, pal.
2:14This time around, you have launched into the stratosphere.
2:17So first of all, I should say that last week for Andy's last pick, I had a moment of like not recognizing
2:24the pick and then trying to look up whether it was eligible or not.
2:28And I gave bad information. Because you nominated a film called If I Go, Will They Miss Me, as you recall as your fourth pick.
2:36And we had some confusion about whether it was at festivals or whether it was actually coming out.
2:42It did not have a Metacritic score at that point.
2:45And the reason we had that question, let's get into the fine print.
2:49This is really interesting, Harris, is because If I Go, Will They Miss Me is actually born as a short film that had reviews and stuff.
2:57And it was well regarded enough that the person who created it then got a feature deal.
3:02So that was the confusion. So we understand the confusion here.
3:06There probably should have been some level of confusion.
3:09This is this is fine. But but in the end, it was absolutely eligible and you are given credit for it as your number four pick.
3:17And it hasn't come out yet. It comes out like in 10 days or something, but it got enough reviews to get a Metacritic score.
3:2584. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. 84. That's the good stuff.
3:28That's your four pick. If only that was your highest number so far.
3:32Okay, because man, all I needed to do was trust my process, Chris.
3:36And finally, after a year, 10 months of great process.
3:39You've honed it, though. Your number your number two pick, weirdly, I'm kind of not I don't I guess it must be
3:46because of film festivals and because the better movies start to come out later in the year.
3:52But possible love, which doesn't come out until October 23rd, which is very late in our cycle for this movie draft.
3:58It already has universal acclaim and 14 critic reviews because it just premiered at Venice.
4:03So congratulations to your 93. Oh, stop. Wow. Okay.
4:06I mean, I believe this is the film that I vowed I would absolutely never see your reaction.
4:1293. 93. I didn't know it went that high.
4:14I didn't I didn't know you'd get one that high.
4:18I don't think I have any actually, you know, I think I have some experience.
4:22Yeah, yeah. 95. After another did score for me.
4:25And after that, it's been it's been nothing but 30s and 50s from me.
4:29So I'd forgotten 90 was possible. So I'm basically dead in the water.
4:34We'll see. I guess the social reckoning is supposed to be bad.
4:37So maybe you'll get crushed there. But yeah, so I got prime time.
4:41It has a 73. 73. Okay. So like, that's good score.
4:45That's fine. We'll take a 73 any day. I'll take it.
4:48But yeah, that one seems watchable. I might see that.
4:52Yeah, it does seem I might see it to 84 and 93.
4:55Congratulations. Pretty unbelievable. Andy on his way on his way.
4:58It's just a process by me. Really? I mean, how can you argue so far?
5:03Pretty good. So I think I got to talk about pound foolish.
5:07There are definitely people on the YouTube channel who I get, you know, the YouTube channel kind of automatically simulcasts this podcast and people watch it there.
5:16It's not there's no video. It's just the logo.
5:18But welcome YouTube listeners. I don't know how many there are a few.
5:22Hi. There are people there and there are people on Reddit and there are people in my emails who every so often
5:29will chime in with a this show used to be good when it wasn't just a show about Harris's book.
5:36Stop talking about your book. Stop talking about your book.
5:39Yeah, sorry. Going to talk about the book a little bit because if you're on social media, you follow me.
5:45You were checking it all yesterday. I mean, mission accomplished.
5:48I guess it's pretty unbelievable. It's not it's not a bestseller in the traditional sense.
5:53Pound foolish in the traditional sense of, you know, there there are lists maintained that are worldwide or, you know, nationwide.
6:00All retailers, you know, they used to call it the New York Times book review.
6:04I don't New York Times bestseller list. I don't even know that probably still exists.
6:09I don't think I'm on it. I haven't checked.
6:12I don't believe I am. However, bookshop.org. You would agree, Andy, kind of a major book outlet.
6:17Yeah, yeah. Kind of a big deal. I kind of argue.
6:21Yeah, I would argue one of the three or four biggest places, at least in the US, that you can purchase a book.
6:28And also there's a bookshop.org in the UK. Welcome to the UK listeners as well.
6:33And Pound Foolish for the week just gone by is the number seven book on all of bookshop.org.
6:38Hell yeah. Deranged. Hell yeah. I mean, it's great.
6:41It's good. You've put in the work. You've done, I don't know, man, more than I ever did, I think, to get
6:48the word out about a piece of fiction. And it's great.
6:52So congrats. This is earned. This is deserved. Thank you.
6:55Thanks. And really just thank you to the Yacht Possums because it's very, very clear that without you, this could not possibly have happened.
7:02Thank you for pre-ordering. Thank you for donating copies to each other because that counted, too.
7:07That was great. It's funny. So I obviously was talking to my mom last night because I was pretty jazzed about it.
7:14It was exciting. And, you know, I was like, well, you know, I was trying to kind of downplay it.
7:21Like, well, you know, it's because it's not because the quality of the book.
7:25It's because of the people who listen to the show and are just so amazing and supportive and lovely and great and took a chance.
7:33And my mom goes, yeah, but what do you think the other books on the list are if they involve pre-orders?
7:40It's about the audience liking that author and trusting that they will enjoy their next book and therefore ordering it.
7:46And that's exactly what your listeners are doing. They're trusting that they like you and they want to support you and they liked your last books.
7:54You know, they read other ones. I've heard from many people.
7:58Like, I'm excited I read Tulsa. I'm excited I read Warren Sound.
8:01And so, like, how is that any different? I was like, mom, that's why you're smarter than me.
8:07So, like, fair point. So, I'm going to take it.
8:10I thank everybody. It's pretty overwhelming. It's not like, you know, it's not that overwhelming.
8:15It's fine. It's great. You know, it's like I've never done this before.
8:19I've never published a book before. It's the stupidest thing, you know, calling it cumulative press and having cumulative press showing up on a list of things.
8:27What a time for cumulative press. It really is.
8:30You sent me a text yesterday saying, I can only imagine the reaction at cumulative press headquarters.
8:36It was that we really had a party with ourselves.
8:39Let's put it that way. No, I'm just kidding.
8:42So, great stuff. Thank you, everybody. Really appreciate it.
8:44If you haven't gotten it, the pressure is kind of off because the way it works is that all the pre-orders count toward that first week.
8:53First week is now over. So, now there's... But, like, please do get it.
8:57Let's keep it on the list. I don't know if it's possible, but sure.
9:02Like, please do get it. You can get it anywhere.
9:05If you've been waiting for the audiobook to be available at Amazon, it now is.
9:09So, you can quite literally get it anywhere you want now.
9:13You can buy it at Amazon if you want.
9:16You can get it at Bookshop. You can get it at Barnes & Noble or Books A Million anywhere.
9:22Fine books are sold. Thanks, everybody, again. Really appreciate it.
9:25Alright, so why don't we do the main topic here, which is...
9:29I nominated some guys to talk about your Week 1 rank of and my Week 1 rank of and talk about whether
9:36that changed from our season-long ranks and why. And in most cases, the why is going to be obvious.
9:42It's mostly about injury. But I'm hopeful that the folks listening who have some of these players can decide whether or not
9:48to panic and make a switch that they might not otherwise make because of injury.
9:53But not only because of injury. You know, there are some just kind of...
9:58I would phrase it as, like, players maybe we have season-long hopes for, but we're not necessarily feeling the need to push it for Week 1.
10:06Does that make sense? Sure. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good mix of names.
10:10It's a lot of names. It's more names than we would normally hit in a rankings pod.
10:15But it's the right list. It's a good list.
10:18Right. And so, like, what you just said means we don't need to go...
10:23We don't need to do the full speech on each person.
10:26Everybody knows what their deal is. But we can update why I put it on the list.
10:31Let's just start. We'll start with some running backs.
10:34I didn't pick any quarterbacks. Christian McCaffrey. Did you do anything different with McCaffrey for Week 1 based on this nebulous tightness?
10:41You know, we should all be as tight as Christian McCaffrey's been the past month.
10:46I will say I did not change my McCaffrey rank.
10:49I would be using him as I would normally be using him.
10:53But how about you? Yeah, that's exactly right. I have an RB3 in the draft ranks and RB4 in the Week 1 ranks.
11:00I simply don't think it's been a real injury.
11:03And he's come about as close as you can come to saying as much, right?
11:08Like, he's talked about how this was a maintenance plan after...
11:11I mean, the guy had 450 touches last year, including the playoffs.
11:15So, I get it. They, you know, preserved him like the artifact that he is in the offseason.
11:21And it seems like he's good to go. And he's Christian McCaffrey.
11:24He was, like, one of the, I don't know, three decisive players in fantasy football last year.
11:30Let's go. It's a... Maybe it's a dicey matchup.
11:32Like, the Rams sure look good defensively on paper.
11:35We'll see. There's at least no Aaron Donald here.
11:38But I can't imagine... I can't imagine having even the slightest hesitation on McCaffrey in Week 1.
11:44I can imagine having the slightest hesitation. Because if you draft a McCaffrey, you're terrified.
11:48You're waking up every night going, Oh, my God.
11:51What do I do to myself? This is a four-month experiment in torture.
11:55So, I understand hesitation. But no. I mean, he's healthy right now.
11:59There's, you know... Generally speaking, I'd be more worried about the guys who are...
12:03Even the younger guys. Even the guys with, you know, lower mileage.
12:07I don't want to come into the season with a pre-injured guy.
12:11I mean, McCaffrey's good to go at this moment.
12:14Well, you say. I say. But if Denny Carter was with us on the show right now, do you think Denny would have no anxiety about the reports?
12:23Denny lives and breathes. This is no shade of Denny.
12:26He lives and breathes with the injury reports. He's a born poster, no question.
12:30Social media. He's also a born blurber. Because he cares about every blurb.
12:34He's so scared. And there are people who feel that way.
12:38If they... I mean, Runner World is still running blurbs about McCaffrey muscle tightness unknown.
12:42And so, I think people reading that... Like, I can't say it's 0%.
12:47It's McCaffrey. Like, I can't... Again, I'm not telling anybody listening to not use him.
12:51You should be using him. And that's really... We can probably stop talking about him after you respond.
12:57Because, like... It's hard to see a world where you took him three overalls.
13:01Or four overall. I'll be like, no, I'm going to sit him week one.
13:06Like, it's not really realistic. But more so, this was like...
13:09I agree with you. And it was more meant to put the listeners' nerves at ease.
13:14Yeah. I will concede that the season-long experience is not for everyone.
13:18And I think that the people who know that they are not built to have McCaffrey on a fantasy roster, they surely avoided him.
13:26They... Those are the folks that were definitely taking Puka.
13:29They were taking Taylor. Anybody but McCaffrey. I understand it.
13:32Because you're going to have to deal with a full season of not practicing on Wednesdays, often not practicing on Thursdays, limited on Fridays.
13:40And it's just maintenance. Or not. And you don't know.
13:43I mean, that's the point. Well, I think based on this offseason, we know they're going to find spots to sit him.
13:50And I would be shocked. I mean, this is a weird team.
13:53Everybody's 30-plus on this offense. Every skill player. They got a lot to manage.
13:58And we'll get to at least one other player later, two other players later.
14:02So they are going to have a difficult time landing this plane, I think.
14:07But they appear to have a maintenance plan for all these guys.
14:10All right. The Patriots are playing tonight. At the end of today, we'll do a little preview of Patriots Seahawks.
14:17We already know that Travion Henderson will not be playing tonight.
14:20And that means Ramondre Stevenson will be playing. And so Henderson is out of your ranks.
14:25Where did you wind up putting Ramondre? Oh, that's a good question.
14:29Ramondre is ranked like a guy who is about to face a challenging matchup.
14:33And he's got a full workload to himself. So I've got him RB20 right now.
14:38Okay. I have him 18 standard 20 PPR. We're really in the same neighborhood.
14:43Yeah. Yeah. And he's a good player. It's a challenging environment.
14:46I think he can get there. Obviously, Ramondre is somebody who can get there as both a receiver and a runner.
14:53If this were almost any other spot, I'd feel a lot better about him.
14:57But this also, you know, the fact that Henderson is missing week one.
15:01Granted, he's got like 10 extra days to get healthy for week two.
15:05And it's a better matchup and all that. But at least we think it's a better matchup.
15:11I think it's a better matchup. It did hit him in my draft ranks, right?
15:15Like I'd be a lot more panicky about Travion Henderson coming into the season than somebody like Christian McCaffrey.
15:21Because he's, I mean, it's been a while since he's seen the practice field.
15:26So I did drop him to like RB 29 in the draft ranks.
15:30Yeah. So I haven't even maintained draft ranks. People are drafting now.
15:34I know I'm just leaving them through own devices that if you don't know Travion Henderson's hurt and you're drafting on Wednesday,
15:41September 9th, a few hours before the season. Come on.
15:44You got to get a little more on top of it.
15:47You know, I had somebody on social say, I really want to use Stevenson over Quinch on Judkins.
15:53And I go, well, I'm not going to, I definitely have Stevenson higher than I had him in draft ranks with no
16:00Henderson in the mix, but I'm not going to make him RB 10.
16:04It's just a hard seeming matchup. One of the few defenses I do trust Seattle's defensive line is awesome and has ridiculous rotational pieces.
16:11And so I just am not going to quite go that haywire, but I don't.
16:16That's why it's betting on sports. I can't tell you exactly what's going to happen.
16:21It isn't how I would play it, but yeah, Stevenson could have a good game.
16:26He could, he figures to get a bunch of work.
16:29Did, did the little birdie that told me about Corey Kiner occur to you at all?
16:34Not in your ranks necessarily, but just like, did you remember he?
16:38Yeah. Yeah. I've had to, I've had to write about this situation a couple of times now.
16:43And every time I name drop Kiner as I, I don't, I don't think that Kiner steps into whatever the, the, you
16:50know, the workload might've been for Henderson, but we're clearly, we're pretty clearly going to see him in a cameo role.
16:57I don't think that Ramondre Stevenson is going to play literally every snap.
17:01So I'm, I'm interested. Like the touches that Kiner may get, I'm, I'm plenty interested.
17:05All right. So now we have two rookie, well, no, one's a rookie.
17:09One's a second year player, but I still think of Ashton Gentry as a rookie since it was a very rookie ish type season, but he's more trustable.
17:18Probably Gentry is. So we're sitting here on Wednesday.
17:21We really don't know squat about Jeremiah Love or Ashton Gentry, other than their teams are making vague noises as though they're optimistic, but aren't we all there?
17:30Doesn't really ever, there's no need, you know, there's no need for them to express pessimism unless they're flat out, definitely not playing.
17:37So it's Gentry and it's love. And you can tell me basically on both of them at the same time, did they
17:44suffer in your week one ranks relative to under the assumption?
17:48Did you put them both in your week one ranks for now?
17:51At least I have them both in the week one ranks.
17:55The one who has suffered more is Jeremiah Love.
17:58It is, we believe a high ankle sprain. Still can't believe they did it.
18:02Still can't believe they gave him 14 touches in a preseason game.
18:06Let him, let him play a lot until he got, until he got damaged.
18:10Can't believe it happened. But yeah, I've got, I had him 17, RB 17 in my, in my draft ranks and he's, he's down at RB 29.
18:19It almost feels like a placeholder spot. Like if we got real enthusiasm on Jeremiah Love's status, maybe there's, there's room for upward movement there.
18:27But I haven't, I feel like I've actually heard a little bit more enthusiasm about Gentry.
18:32Like, you know, the head coach himself has suggested that Gentry will play.
18:36Uh, which listen, I don't, I don't know the nature of Ashton Gentry's ankle injury either.
18:41There were there, you know, there were some, there was some mixed reporting about exactly how low the high ankle sprain was
18:48or how high the low ankle sprain was. I don't, I don't know exactly what it is.
18:53Um, but there seemed to be a little bit more confidence that, that Gentry would play.
18:58And, and to my, to my eye, again, we don't know anything going into week one really, but I'm more interested in
19:05the matchup against Miami than I am in, uh, in Love's matchup.
19:09So, you know, it's all well and good for us to argue about, uh, not that we're arguing, but, you know, like
19:16have a conversation about how many angels are dancing on the head of that particular pin.
19:21It's hard for me to imagine a world where if you drafted Ashton Gentry in the second round or drafted, uh, Jeremiah
19:28Love in the second round, uh, or maybe third round that you're going to sit them if they're active.
19:34I just don't really think you probably have that luxury.
19:37So maybe the point isn't really, uh, all that worth going deeper into other than to say, I think everything we get
19:44told, you can just flush it down the toilet.
19:47They, they probably don't know how their ankles are going to react.
19:50Like, I don't care what the head coach says.
19:53You know, I, I don't, none of it matters.
19:56They're not going to tell the truth. They don't have any incentive to tell the truth.
20:01Both guys could be headed for 30 touch workloads.
20:04We wouldn't know it beforehand and we're going to find out.
20:08I got to be honest. The reason they suffered for me is it's that continued worry that the moment they get ankle tackled, they're out.
20:15Yep. You know, they're lower in my ranks because of that, but I just don't know how you don't use them.
20:22That's also true of Brees Hall who suffered a groin injury.
20:25Oh, I mean, not quite a month ago, but close to it, you know, three weeks ago.
20:31And Brees Hall got lower in my ranks, but again, it doesn't require a major conversation because if you drafted Brees Hall
20:38and he's active, there's not a world where you're not using him in week one.
20:43He fell to number 20 in my running back ranks for whatever that's worth.
20:47Yeah. I don't have him. I don't have him that low.
20:50I've got him. I've got him 14. I mean, it's man, it's a, it's a matchup again that seemingly you'd want to
20:57be proactive about against like, it's a really hard to imagine whatever people aren't terribly excited about a jets Titans matchup necessarily.
21:04But I, but I gotta believe that, that Brees Hall as the potential engine of that offense is going to be in play throughout against the Titans.
21:13But it long layoff, right. And a, a worrisome sort of injury where, you know, it's not, it's not like we never
21:20see recurrence of groin strains when a player attempts to come back.
21:23So it is a totally legitimate concern. Yeah. Yeah.
21:26One step again, these, these all have been probably we're talking to him.
21:30I'll try to get to players here who are a little more subject to your bench.
21:35Cause those, those five players are really not. So let's do the Broncos backfield.
21:40I'll overridingly ask the question, how much of your season long ranks carried over to your week one ranks for the, for
21:47the, I guess, three members of the Broncos backfield.
21:50Yeah. They're really close on all these guys. Um, I mean, it's within, it's within five spots on each of them and
21:57that, that may not sound close, but you know, I have them, you know, Dobbins in the, he's like RB 30 for me.
22:04Uh, yeah. You know, in the draft ranks and Harvey is 36.
22:08Um, I, I don't know if I'm, I don't know if I'm with consensus on Jonah Coleman.
22:13I've still got him buried. Like in the draft ranks, he was 47 and in the week one ranks, he was 51.
22:20I can't imagine. I can't imagine. There's too many people that are tempted to use Jonah Coleman.
22:25There's been a lot of buzz about him having a potential role.
22:29Um, JK Dobbins, a really good player. And I would be looking to start JK Dobbins while he's healthy in my week one ranks.
22:37I've got him at RB 26, which is kind of the fringes of you, you got to flex him or play him in an RB spot, whatever.
22:45That's not a meaningful distinction. Um, but I, I think you got to play JK Dobbins while he's healthy.
22:51I think he's really good. Yeah. This is the moment where probably, I mean, is he healthy?
22:56Another one where he got hurt in training camp, didn't participate in the second half of camp, but then did practice and is back to normal.
23:05So this is probably the healthiest you get them.
23:07I don't know how you don't use them. Um, I have him 27 standard.
23:12I have Harvey one spot ahead of him PPR, but this is basically what I was doing with them all through August.
23:19So no big changes for me and completely agree.
23:22Like in my top, I'd only do 50 running backs for standard and PPR and he made number 50 for standard and didn't make PPR.
23:30So again, it's not, it's not bad if you drafted them.
23:33Nobody knows the usage beforehand. Let's see what it looks like and see if Sean Payton was lying.
23:39This just in Sean Payton was lying. Um, uh, you know, if, if suddenly Jonah, every, every play inside the five, Jonah
23:46Coleman's on the field, we're going to have a different week, two ranks on them, but I don't think you're using him.
23:53We man, Sean Payton loved everybody in camp. I mean, it was just a, just a reminder.
23:58Uh, Pat, Pat Bryant's superstar. Evan Ingram never looked friskier.
24:01Uh, Jonah Coleman endlessly impressive. Sean Payton loves all these guys.
24:05Is he still, uh, raving about Greg Dulcich on another team?
24:08Right. Still is. That's probably right. Uh, bears running backs, uh, Kyle Mononga guy.
24:12What's your, I did rank him, but I don't think that's a sure thing that he's definitely playing.
24:18What's your latest understanding? Yeah, I've got him. I, I'd be a little bit surprised if he didn't play.
24:24There's been a little bit more optimism in, in recent days.
24:28Um, but I've got him pretty, you know, he, he is somebody because he was, he was off the practice field so
24:34much who fell a little bit in my draft ranks, ended up around RB 41.
24:39I've basically got him in the same spot heading into, heading into week one.
24:44I ended up with a, with a pretty big gap between him and Swift, which may turn out to be a mistake.
24:51Um, I think there was a, I think there was a meaningful difference between those two players last year.
24:57I don't, I don't think they were, you know, I, I'm excited about Mononga longterm, but like he couldn't catch last year.
25:03And that is a huge strength of, of Swifts.
25:06And I think that's going to be, I think that that's going to until, until, until I see Kyle Mononga function as
25:13like a, like a, you know, all situation, all purpose running back.
25:17Really? Uh, I'm going to have, I'm going to have Swift consistently ahead of him.
25:22So that's where I've got him. I've got Swift, like RB 20.
25:26I've got Swift basically as a full guy. We had a little injury scare with Swift late in the practice week last
25:32week, but, uh, turned out to be apparently a cramp reportedly a cramp.
25:37So Swift should be good to go. You live and die on those cramp, those reports.
25:42They're, they're honest. They're just so, yeah. Uh, well, there was a lot of local freak out when both Roma Dunze and
25:49Deandre Swift had to leave practice in the same day.
25:52Yeah. And a Dunze we'll talk about because that freak out seems maybe to be more valid.
25:57Um, so I agree with some of what you said and I share a different, I have a different opinion on some of what you said.
26:05Um, I, I want to renew my claim that I make every year on the show with is that ranks are the
26:12order in which I would start them, not the, not the predicted order of finish, which is why a ranks contest is
26:19unbearably stupid because you're then, you know, now, now you are trying to predict the order of finish and that is not
26:26what I think ranks should be for. I think ranks should be the order in which I would prefer to use these players.
26:33Uh, you, you said it right that could it work out that Monungay is just fine and it winds up being again,
26:40one of those 50, 50, 50 splits that we saw from the bear so many times last year.
26:46And Monungay is the one who falls into the end zone and he produces more fantasy points than Swift.
26:52Yup. Saw it a bunch last year. Real frustrating if you had Swift, but saw it a bunch last year.
26:58So fair point by you. And because we don't know about Monungay's health with any kind of certainty, if you have him
27:05as like a, you drafted before his injury and you have him in the boy, I might could use him as a
27:12flex, but I have other flex options. Both of us are basically ranking him as if to say, don't do that.
27:19We, we don't trust it to the point where we want to use them in week one.
27:24The place where I might disagree is the notion that Swift longterm is worth a lot more than a healthy Monungay.
27:31Uh, I don't, I don't see any reason why Ben Johnson wouldn't have leaned heavily into Swift much more so than he did last year.
27:39If he didn't see something lacking in Swift's game, like common on guy is not bigger than Deandre Swift.
27:45Common on guy is a little guy like Deandre.
27:47So I mean, little, you know, they're under 210 pounds.
27:51They're in the 205 pound range. And yet one of them is out there banging into people and trying to run them
27:57over and going where the play is blocked. And one of them is a little ballerina who needs to do his little
28:04command performance and dance around everybody and lose five yards sometimes.
28:08And I think it pretty consistently three coaching staffs into his career, maybe more.
28:12I can't remember who got fired. Deandre Swift has maddened his coaches and you know, I wish Monungay was like more athletically gifted.
28:20I actually don't know that I think he's got a great future, but when you, when you're up against Deandre Swift, you
28:26could be 205 pounds and be the bruiser on the team because the other guy won't hit anybody.
28:32So like long-term I have, I, once I'm convinced Monungay is healthy, they're probably going to start to get a lot closer in my ranks.
28:40Yeah, no, I, I see that. Yeah. But I, I'm going to need, I'm going to need confirmation at some point here
28:47in the next couple of weeks that Monungay is indeed healthy and going to be deployed.
28:52That's only going to come in the, yeah, that's only going to come in the form of a game that we see
28:59until I don't care what the coaches say, as you know.
29:02So like it's going to have, I'm going to miss the first good Kyle Monungay game or maybe not even good, but
29:09the first one where he's time sharing, I'm going to miss it because of the injury.
29:14Same. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so we're basically saying start swift and if you can avoid it, don't start Monungay.
29:20How about the Panthers running backs? I love how I give you a little lecture about the bears running as, as if you don't know all those things.
29:29I'm like scolding you. Well, here's the truth, Andy.
29:32This is about, about your team that you follow unbelievably closely.
29:35Uh, sorry about that. So, uh, the Panthers, uh, Jonathan Brooks, Chuba Hubbard, uh, at various times over the past couple of
29:42weeks, both guys have been proclaimed injured and then miraculously well again.
29:46Both doing work on the side, the ultimate terror moment, I guess for some people, cousin Josh would be freaking out, obviously.
29:53Uh, did you approach Brooks and Hubbard any differently in week one than you did in your season long?
29:59Yeah, this, this got weird, uh, within the, within the last week or so, because there was so much optimism about Jonathan
30:06Brooks and it's a, you know, again, it's a, it's a great story.
30:10Attempting to come back from tearing the same ACL twice is wild.
30:14Um, but he's all of a sudden we, we have Dave Canales talking about how they're hopeful he's going to play in week one.
30:22And I was like, I'm sorry, what was that?
30:24Was that even a thing we needed to address?
30:27And he's doing all this side work and, uh, we're getting, we're getting, you know, footage from practices in which he's just
30:34kind of sprinting in a straight line at camp.
30:37And that's, that's cool. Uh, I'd rather he just practice like, like everybody else.
30:41It's, uh, and that for me just absolutely arrested the, the, you know, the positive vibes and the, and the helium that, that Brooks had.
30:49So he ended up settling at RB 43 in my draft ranks, which of course is a spot where I never, I
30:56never got Jonathan Brooks, uh, and, uh, and RB 41 in my opening week ranks.
31:01Cause I let, if he, if he breaks out in opening weeks in opening week, it's just, it's not, you know, I
31:08won't have, I won't have any, uh, involvement with it.
31:11I won't benefit from it anyway. I think, I think Hubbard, I feel much more secure in Hubbard status now than I
31:18do Brooks and again, rooting for Brooks. Um, but it's not going to come on my fantasy rosters.
31:24Yeah. You were always, you're, you're probably the biggest doubter of Brooks that I talked to over the course of August.
31:30Um, isn't that the, uh, Heraclides, is that how you say his name?
31:34Heraclitus? I can't, I don't know how to say Greek names, but, uh, he, the, the famous Greek philosopher who said you'll,
31:41you can never tear the same ACL twice. Uh, I think it's this cross the same river twice, but you know, I, I did my best.
31:49I tried to class up the joint with my little Greek reference.
31:53How did you? I really did. I, I, I still have Hubbard and Brooks next to each other.
31:59I still have them 30 and 31. I could see, you know, again, I just don't believe anything the coaches say at this time.
32:06And, and what I understand is that he said, Jonathan Brooks has general leg soreness.
32:11I'm like, okay, man, I don't know what that means.
32:14Yeah. But, but you're right. Wasn't practicing in full.
32:17So like, again, they lie. They, he could be, his knee could be swelling up like a balloon and they might not be telling us.
32:25So I guess, you know, the, the person who did take Brooks, who's listening right now and hearing you talk about him, obviously you didn't get him.
32:34They did. They took him in the sixth round.
32:36That sixth round is not a, I think you would say the sixth round is not a commitment to use in week one.
32:44You could find your, and you are finding a way with your ranks on the deepshot.com.
32:49You are finding a way to get away from Brooks with other quality options.
32:53It might be the first round in which we're not fully committed to using a player, right?
32:58Like I feel like rounds one through five, I'm pretty locked in.
33:02Like I like those guys and where, where you added Brooks, it is entirely possible that that might've been, you know, he
33:09might be one of a few flexes on your, on your roster that you can consider in any given week.
33:16I don't think I'd roll them out there in, in week one, but again, I've been much more of a Brooks pessimist than, than others.
33:23I just, I, I, it could also be like the, there is a, there is a better version of events here in
33:30which the Panthers just said, yeah, we've, we've seen all we need to see from John, nothing Brooks, and we're going to hold them out of practice.
33:39So nothing, you know, nothing terrible happens and we're just going to get them to week one at full health.
33:45Like that's, I don't know, that's alive. That, that might be real.
33:49It just, with, with a player like this, with this injury history, I, I'm going to be, I'm going to be more concerned.
33:56Right. So like with the stuff we said about Mononga, you're going to miss the first even workload game.
34:02And that's okay. That's, that's what people want to hear from you.
34:06So that's your opinion. That's good. Um, Marshawn Lloyd, I can tell you that Marshawn Lloyd was higher in my season long
34:13ranks than he is in my week one ranks.
34:16He's actually below, he's right below Jonathan Brooks in my week one ranks.
34:20And the logic for that is I drafted Lloyd for the crazy upside of him being good enough.
34:25To take advantage of Jacobs is longterm absence, but I don't feel the need.
34:30I don't know it for sure. Right away. I drafted a lottery ticket.
34:34I don't have to play the lottery ticket in week one.
34:37And like based on where Lloyd was going, I mean there, I, I was in drafts at the end where he went the fourth round.
34:45Okay. If you took him in the fourth, you might not have the players to check the, I would say check the
34:52ranks, you know, but philosophically where I was coming from by putting him lower in the week one ranks wasn't like, I'm
34:59not doubting that he's good at any more than I was doubting.
35:03He was good in the season long ranks. It's more like, yeah, I'm, there's an X percent chance.
35:09The lead back here is Chris Brooks and we've just completely got it wrong.
35:13And that needs to be factored into the week one possible outcomes.
35:17Yeah. I'm a, I feel like I'm on an Island with, with Lloyd.
35:21There's, there's maybe, maybe you're joining me on this Island too, but I just did not have him very high in the draft ranks at all.
35:29I had him RB 37. That's where I've got him right now.
35:33He, he was actually a little higher in my week one ranks, although it's not a bullish rank.
35:39I have him at RB 33. And the reason there is that I, I know he's healthy now.
35:44Um, but this is a, this is, this is a guy who's been, I mean, I think it's something like eight different
35:51soft tissue injuries, including three hamstring injuries since he entered the league just a couple of years ago.
35:57He's never been available. He, he is currently available and he has, you know, reportedly done some things in the off season
36:04to make sure that he's, he's gotten his body right for like the, the rigors of a full NFL season.
36:10But man, they, they just said in a, in a press conference that they, that they were, they were very much a
36:17running back by committee right now that they expected big things from Lloyd that they, they like his explosion and playmaking ability and all that.
36:25But they, I don't know. They are not telling us, oh, whatever.
36:29They lie. But nobody's saying, Hey, yeah, it's going to be the Marshawn Lloyd show.
36:33Um, and I wouldn't think it would be the Marshawn Lloyd show.
36:37Cause there'd be a wild way to use a guy who has not, he's played 10 snaps in, in two seasons and not been able to stay healthy.
36:46Yeah. Well, first of all, you don't have nearly enough respect for the Institute that he apparently went to, to learn how to use his body.
36:54Yeah. Just, I mean, come on, man. What are you doing?
36:58Don't you know there's an Institute that he went to the Institute for.
37:02This is like in baseball when a player goes to driveline and it makes its way into every blurb and we're like, Oh, he's going to throw 105.
37:11This is great. And stay totally healthy. And it just like, okay, fine.
37:15Like, I hope it worked. I hope it worked.
37:18I am for more good players in the world.
37:20Um, it's just, you know, he's got it. He's got a really, really complicated injury history.
37:25Also, I think, I think Chris Brooks has to see the field.
37:29He's, he's, he's really good in pass protection. He's been a perfectly fun, you know, not flashy, not exciting, perfectly serviceable.
37:36Back who like, if, if what the Packers want to be now in the absence of Josh Jacobs is, Hey, we're going
37:43to put more of this on Jordan love. You probably got to have Chris Brooks on the field to help protect him.
37:50Yeah. Those are all true statements. I don't really think they, of course you mean, you mean Marshawn Lloyd's not going to play 98% of the snaps.
37:58That's a huge news item to me. You know, Marshawn Lloyd can have a great game with Chris Brooks playing 30% of the snaps.
38:06Yeah. And I'm on the same side of this argument as you.
38:10I'm just trying to like use good logic. I don't care what they say.
38:14I don't care what our projections are for the usage.
38:17If the player is good, he doesn't need a full workload to be good for fantasy because three guys are going to
38:24get full workloads and everyone else is going to be in a committee.
38:28But I'm on, again, I'm not arguing with you.
38:31I'm on the same side of this as you for week one.
38:35Anyway, I was higher on him for the, for the whatever percent chance that he gets to be Josh Jacobs, you know,
38:4280% of Josh Jacobs for a trustable length of season.
38:45I thought that was worth taking a little bit higher shot in the draft than you did, but I absolutely could be wrong about that.
38:53Of course we're on the same side though, and basically have the same rank for week one in which we go, cool.
39:00Well, I would need to see this happen first before I want to really super extend myself to go get him.
39:06If that makes sense. That's, I mean, that's exactly where I am.
39:10And this is going to be another case where if he just, if he breaks out, it's, it's not going to benefit me.
39:17Yeah. I'm trying to think, do I have any teams that have, I think I might have them on one team and
39:24I don't know who, I don't remember who else I have on that team.
39:29I think it's a, I think it's a consult the ranks type situation.
39:33I think what we're communicating here is he's not an immediate start no matter what.
39:38Um, okay. And then the last running back situation is the commanders.
39:41Uh, we know that the offensive line has major question marks and hasn't looked very good and they don't have any running
39:48backs who we consider to be superstars. I think the folks looking for a J'Kori Krosky merit boosting podcast are in the wrong place.
39:56We didn't think he looked good last year. Um, it's tough.
39:59It's tough to honestly see my way through. Like, I guess I didn't really change my week one ranks for my season
40:06long ranks because I already was telling you not to take them pretty much.
40:11Although I ever shot white in a couple of places because he just never got taken.
40:16That was a weird thing to see JCM go like four rounds before our shot white.
40:21I'm like, buddy, did you not watch last year?
40:24So I, I have white on a couple of teams and I have one where I pro in a PPR that I
40:30probably need to start him, but you don't need to be aggressive starting these guys.
40:35Yeah, no, I agree with that. I've, I've got them pretty close in, well, I've got them a little bit lower in
40:42week one than I had them in the draft ranks, but I, this is another case where I wasn't particularly bullish on
40:49these guys in the draft ranks either. I had Krosky merit like RB 30 at white RB 42.
40:55Uh, again, I, the, like the Eagles are a matchup where like, I, I, I kinda, I kinda know what this defense is.
41:02I feel, I feel I have, I have more knowledge of what the Eagles are cause they have so many damn good players, uh, at each level.
41:11Like this is a difficult matchup, especially for a team with real offensive line questions and real talent questions in the backfield.
41:17I, I would, uh, I w I would not be aggressive about starting commanders running backs in, in week one.
41:24I don't see a good path to go down here.
41:27Wide receivers. Uh, the first several names I'm going to mention here, it's probably somewhat of an academic exercise.
41:33So let's not get too wrapped up because if you took these players, you're probably using them even if we put them
41:40lower in our ranks, but just from a, what did, how did you react compared to your week one ranks?
41:46Like Malik neighbors by the end was a late second round pick, which I think was crazy.
41:51And I think, you know, there's a lot to prove there.
41:55I have to assume he's lower though. Wherever you had him ranked, I have to assume he's lower for week one.
42:02Um, yeah, he's 10 spots lower in week one.
42:04I had him, I had him wide receiver 16 coming into the season, which is one of those places where I'm not
42:11even, I'm not even comfortable with that, but it's, but it's low enough that I don't, I don't usually get Malik neighbors.
42:18Um, and then I have him wide receiver 26, almost as a, almost as a placeholder in week one.
42:24Cause I just need to hear, yeah, he's playing.
42:27Um, and then, and then he might come up a little bit, but I, but I also have neighbor's own voice in my head.
42:35Like he, he's been about as candid as you'll ever, as you'll ever hear a player and discussing his injury and how
42:42like he'll watch clips of himself and he's like, Oh yeah, I'm smooth.
42:46I look good, but I also know how I feel and it's not quite right.
42:50You know? And I appreciate that he's, that he said that what, whatever it's a, it's a year out from a significant
42:57injury and he's a player who relies on explosiveness.
43:00So that's fine. Um, but it's, but it's in my head that, that, you know, he's not, he's not a hundred percent.
43:07And even when he's out there, um, you know, even when we get the green light and he's, and he's going to
43:14play in week one and yeah, you, you, I mean, you've got to start him.
43:19He's Malik neighbors and he's capable of big moments.
43:22Um, it's going to, it's going to be in my head that he maybe doesn't feel entirely a hundred percent.
43:28Yeah. I'm just much less touchy feely about any of this stuff.
43:32I don't care what the player says. I don't care what the coaches say.
43:36I'm, I'm like a cold blooded actuary when it comes to this stuff.
43:40I go, this dude had a torn ACL like, you know, 10 months ago or whatever.
43:45And he has to be lower in the ranks and then we get to watch him once.
43:51And once we get to watch him, cool. Then we get to start making decisions, but I don't care what they say.
43:58And he needs to be lower and he also needs to be in your lineup.
44:02I, I just, we don't, let's not have a long Drake London conversation because I do want to get to a Wednesday
44:09night preview here by the end of the show.
44:12But I wondered whether to a starting changed your rank of London at all.
44:16Not that anybody can afford to be benching their wide receiver one.
44:20Yeah, it's gross. This is really disgusting. I might've been, I might've been more excited if a strand, if Jack strand, the,
44:27the, you know, if we had like a thrill of the unknown quarterback, uh, starting instead of, instead of Tua, this is, this is kind of disgusting.
44:36I still have Drake London at wide receiver 12 and you're still playing him, but I'm, I, I, I cringe thinking about it.
44:43I haven't met wide receiver eight. I did not move him.
44:46Uh, I think Tua is a professional quarterback. He might be a professional backup quarterback, but he'll get the ball to Drake London.
44:54It'll be fine. I saw late career Kirk cousins, you know, do good things last year.
44:59Where, you know, I've, I've seen, um, like who else did he have?
45:03I'm trying to think who else he had early, early in his career in the pre-Pennix days.
45:08Desmond Ritter. That's what I was trying to think of.
45:11Ritter. Yeah. Like Tua is as good as Desmond Ritter.
45:14You'll be all right. I mean, we'll, we'll reconvene if it's, if it's awful and Tua has to keep starting, we'll talk
45:21about it after week one for sure. Uh, I mentioned, you mentioned Roma Dunze and I mentioned how suddenly the tables flipped
45:28from being worried about Luther Burden to being worried about Roma Dunze.
45:32Probably a Dunze is fine. I did lower, I have burden for week one.
45:37I have burden ahead of a Dunze. Whereas all through the draft season, I had a Dunze, I had a burden because of burdens, groin injury.
45:45Yep. Same. I'm in, I'm in exactly the same spot.
45:48I've got burden, uh, wide receiver 25. I've got a Dunze 29.
45:52Um, I'd, I'd love to, I'd love to see Rome back at practice.
45:56The, the initial report after the injury, which whatever, maybe it doesn't matter.
46:00Maybe, maybe it's just, you know, uh, context that, that is pretty meaningless, but was, was that he wanted to continue practicing.
46:07It didn't seem overly serious, but now we're, you know, we're, we're missing time on the practice field.
46:12That, that has to be a concern. Um, still don't know the exact nature of the injury.
46:18It is not the foot that he injured last year.
46:21All we know is that it's something different and it's significant enough to get, to keep him from practicing in the days before the season opener.
46:29So I'm, I'm concerned. It's not nothing. Yeah, it's not nothing.
46:33Um, I'm not going to care what they say as long as he's back at practice.
46:38If this were any other week, we don't care about Thursday practice, let alone Tuesday practices.
46:43But because it's before week one and because we need something to obsess over and worry about, we're freaking out.
46:49The practices that matter are Thursday kind of and Friday definitely.
46:52And of course, Friday, if he's not practicing on Friday, he's coming out of the ranks.
46:58Like that's the end of the story. Yeah. Clearly if someone has an Adunze versus someone playing Wednesday or Thursday, you know,
47:04if it's close enough for you to even be considering it, then sure you can take away the uncertainty by not using Adunze.
47:12My guess is that he'll play the actuary in my head says, but he has to be a little bit lower than
47:19you had him in season until you see and make sure that he's healthy.
47:23I roughly basically agree with where you have those two ranks.
47:27Uh, a Mecca of Buka hasn't practiced now. It definitely has been more than a month because of turf toe.
47:33I'm sure it's fine though. I'm sure, I'm sure everybody's going to say lovely things about it.
47:38Let's, let's quote the coaches. Uh, yeah, he has to go lower, obviously.
47:42Um, does he go low enough for you that you, I mean, let me just not bury the lead.
47:48I won't ask it as a question. He went low enough for me that he's actually benchable.
47:54I have him 36 in standard. I have him 36 in PPR.
47:57I have him wide receiver 31. And that is, that is not the unbenchable zone, right?
48:02The unbenchable zone is basically top, top 24 ish.
48:05I don't really see a path to benching you.
48:08If, if we're ranking you as a wide receiver three, I can definitely imagine the fantasy roster on which Buka gets to start the season on the bench.
48:17Um, again, they've been, they've been really, they don't want to call this turf toe, but it's clearly a turf toe adjacent injury.
48:24It's probably just straight up turf toe. And that's a, I mean, that's brutal.
48:29That's brutal for at any skill position, let alone somebody who's expected to cut constantly.
48:33Yeah. It's again, we don't know. We, I mean, anybody doing these shows who's like, here's exactly what you should do with the Mecca book.
48:41And I know the result, like, okay, buddy, we don't know.
48:45So, and we're, it, it, it doesn't really matter what they tell us.
48:49It doesn't really matter what the practice report says.
48:52What matters is what it's going to look like.
48:54And it's just one where it's gone on long enough that I personally lowered him a lot from where I had him ranked.
49:02And I personally would be okay and would not lose my mind if he was on my bench and went off in week one.
49:09I just think there's enough information for me to go, you know what?
49:13You put one over on me and Mecca, good job.
49:17You're in my lineup for week two. I'm okay.
49:19Like I can sleep at night. The thing that's going to make me more angry is if I go, no, I have to stay true.
49:27And I drafted him to be my wide receiver too.
49:30So he's got to stay in there. And he runs four routes.
49:34Like that would be the thing that tortured me more because it was there.
49:39It was there for me to know that there was a problem, but the listener might feel differently.
49:44And I think that has to be your own sort of personal tolerance for disaster.
49:49Yeah. Yeah. I think that's right. I put T Higgins on this list.
49:53You're not benching T Higgins anyway. And now I guess he's back at practice.
49:58It's a heel injury, but he's fine. I might've well put Jamar Chase who like mildly hyperextended a knee, but his backup, these guys are playing, right?
50:06I assume you didn't do anything with them in your ranks.
50:09No, I have Higgins in exactly the same spot.
50:12I have Chase as my wide receiver one. I just, you know, they've kind of been, you know, in so far as
50:19we can believe what anybody says, they have been telling us that if this were regular season stuff, they would have been out there.
50:27Yeah. Yeah. Alec Pierce is a big one. Alec Pierce, you know, there are going to be some people who drafted maybe
50:34before about six or seven days ago that got away with, maybe feel like they got away with a little something because
50:41Alec Pierce was going a lot later. And then over the weekend, he gets activated and is practicing.
50:46And his, like, I don't know that we ever got an ADP on Alec Pierce that we could actually believe because I'm
50:53sure in drafts this weekend, suddenly he was going three rounds higher, rightly so, as he should have.
50:59A lot of uncertainty about his ankle, but clearly all the upside in the world for a very well compensated, good player
51:06who we thought got a lot better last season.
51:09Did you make changes to Alec Pierce? Like, I guess your season long rank almost doesn't matter anymore.
51:14But how much trust are you giving Alec Pierce for week one?
51:18He's, I mean, he's a little lower. I've got him.
51:21I've got him down at wide receiver 39. I don't think he's a must start.
51:26I'd love to see it once with Alec Pierce.
51:29Yep. Yeah. I'd love to see all of that.
51:32I just want to see, you know, obviously you're trusting Jonathan Taylor.
51:36You're trusting some of the top of the ranks guys attached to this offense.
51:40Anybody else? I'd like to see it once. There's some new stuff here.
51:44There's some stuff missing. I'd like to see what all this looks like.
51:48And I'd like to see exactly how explosive and quick and, you know, ready to function as last year's Alec Pierce, you know, that this guy can be.
51:57I mean, he was inactive for a long time.
52:00Agreed. He's 43 on my list. It's a give him a week if you can type situation.
52:05Again, it's check the ranks. You know, like you can look at harrishopper.com.
52:09You can look at the deep shot. If you're listening right now and you're a Yacht Club subscriber, you already have access to the deep shot.
52:17So I recommend getting a password, getting an account.
52:20And everybody who hopefully gets convinced to join the Yacht Club, you will get also a subscription to the deep shot included.
52:27And you can see Andy's ranks and columns and stuff like that there.
52:31You know, like if you don't have anybody above Alec Pierce on your roster, you can use them.
52:37But we're putting them pretty low. Completely agree. Tomorrow night, Thursday night, those 49ers who are old.
52:42I guess Brock Purdy's not that old. But Dejan Stribling, very young.
52:46But everybody else old. Mike Evans, did he, given his various maladies throughout August, did he wind up lower in week one than on your season long?
52:55And actually, you could just talk about, I only picked one tight end, so you can talk about Kittle too.
53:01We can kind of like do him at once.
53:04Yeah, Evans isn't lower because I wasn't particularly high on Evans.
53:07There's another player that I literally have no Mike Evans in the fantasy portfolio this year.
53:12I don't even know what consensus is on Mike Evans.
53:15I know that there are some people excited about him.
53:19If he's still got another great year in him, I'm going to miss it.
53:23I don't want to say that he's dust, and I don't want to say that Kyle Shanahan can't figure out a way to use him.
53:31And shoot, he's Mike Evans. Kyle Shanahan might feed him 10 touchdowns this year.
53:35He might be great in the red zone. He might be great in goal to go.
53:40What's your week one rank of him? I don't think he had the juice last year.
53:45I got him wide receiver 30. So I'm 31.
53:48It's hilarious that you're like, he's dust, he's dust, he's done.
53:52And then we have the same rank on him.
53:55But he's lower for me than he was in the season-long ranks because, yeah, I would be okay if somebody said, okay, I drafted old receivers.
54:03I drafted Cortland Sutton and Mike Evans. And Mike Evans went two rounds, three rounds, four rounds ahead of Cortland Sutton.
54:09Yeah, I have Sutton ranked ahead of him. I would be cool using Sutton over him.
54:14Godwin, Chris Godwin went after Evans. But Godwin is a little higher than he would be if Abuka was fully trustable.
54:21And so I would use Godwin over Evans. You know, I assume that whatever Mike Evans is right now, he's always going
54:28to be battling some degree of strains and sprains.
54:31And it's a matter of whether he can fight through it.
54:34That's just kind of been his fate lately, the past two years or so.
54:39So he's a little lower in my ranks for week one because of the possibility that the cliff has already arrived and we don't know it yet.
54:47And if you have some alternatives, but like regardless of your having him in your portfolio or what you think people should
54:54have done with him in a draft, you're basically saying start him if you're putting him at 30.
55:00And so am I, unless you have a few of the players ahead of him.
55:05Yeah, he's a little bit like McCaffrey in that, you know, I think he's healthy right now.
55:10Certainly the idea that there's more injury risk attached to Mike Evans was part of the draft rank on Mike Evans, although
55:17that's the same as my week one rank. Yeah, I mean, you suggested it as well.
55:22I think there's a real chance that he's just kind of a catch and fall guy right now.
55:28I think that might be out there. Sure, but again, we're not having a conversation about whether people should draft him.
55:34Like they have him or they don't. And again, we're we have almost receiver 30 isn't like I'm not screaming at you
55:41that you absolutely got to start him. That's that's permission to start without being, you know, aggressive about it.
55:47Yeah. In the case of all these players who are not in the obvious must start range just comes down to what else you have on the roster.
55:56We're going to tell you to start or sit depending on that's why we do ranks.
56:01So agreed. And then Kittle. Kittle is tight end 14 for me.
56:05Oh, same. Yep. That's a probably you use him because I'm going to guess you don't have a bunch of other guys.
56:12But there could be I mean, for as much as I've waxed rhapsodic about Brenton Strange, there might be some people out there to Kittle and Strange.
56:20And if that's the case, my goodness, play Strange.
56:23You don't play Juwan Johnson. And there's no reason if you have an option who might be OK for week one, it might be a good player.
56:32There's no reason you have to like stretch yourself to use Kittle.
56:35You know, if somebody is out there saying, well, Kittle is the only one I drafted, but TJ Hawkinson is on the waiver wire.
56:43I don't know for sure what's going to happen, but probably I just say Kittle made the trip to Australia.
56:49Sure, he's probably not going to play every snap, but there's going to be some national TV impetus to be like, see, he's back.
56:57You kidding me? Five catches. I need somebody yelling how wonderful George Kittle is.
57:01So like that's why I put him 14. Yeah.
57:04Also, you know, sometimes when these guys allegedly have snap counts, number one, that can go out the window if the game is in doubt.
57:12Like when the game is actually underway, a snap count is not like the law of the land.
57:18So he might exceed it. And also they make sure to use them when they're on the field, when they have the opportunity to use them.
57:26So it's not it's not like some fantasy death sentence or anything like that.
57:30So I think Kittle can be fine. I agree with you.
57:34Like if I drafted him as my only tight end, well, that's bold to draft him as your only tight end because
57:41it's wild that he's playing, you know, eight months after Achilles surgery.
57:44Um, but if I drafted him as my only tight end, my bench is probably full of like high upside guys that
57:51I don't necessarily want to drop just to add.
57:54I don't know, Chica Conquo or whatever. Like I think I think I just roll with Kittle.
57:59Yep. Agreed. Before we get going, a quick preview of tonight.
58:03Patriots at Seahawks. I will obviously be donning the footie pajamas to sit and watch this game.
58:08Um, any validity to the idea that both of these defenses have gotten materially worse since the Super Bowl?
58:14And I'm not sure if the Seahawks offense has gotten better, but AJ Brown, you would assume makes the Patriots offense better.
58:21That there are actually more points than you might expect potentially in this game.
58:26Oh, yeah. No, I absolutely think so. I think Brown is one of the most interesting players to watch in week one.
58:33Um, and the, you know, the Seahawks, obviously they're down.
58:36They lose Kobe Bryant in the offseason. Like the second, like I, we talked about it earlier when we were discussing Ramondre.
58:43The, I think the defensive front is still really good.
58:46Uh, don't know exactly what the secondary is going to look like.
58:50And all of a sudden the Patriots throw a problem like AJ Brown at you.
58:54Yeah. I, I think the Patriots can, you know, there's nothing you can do.
58:59Like you can't really like whatever you had kind of a no show in the Super Bowl.
59:04Um, can't make up for it in the regular season, but I think it's going to look a lot better for the Patriots.
59:11It's interesting. This line has been moving the Patriots way, like consistently moving its way.
59:16I thought it was going to be six. I mean, they killed them in the Super Bowl.
59:21I thought it was going to be six. And I looked last week and it was four.
59:27Then it was three and a half. This morning it's three.
59:30I, maybe that's just because there's a lot of Patriots fans out there.
59:34I don't know. Sometimes maybe that's why it moves, but, uh, I would be on Seattle.
59:39I think I would be on Seattle for this game.
59:43Not really knowing anything about anything. Very exciting to see Jadarian Price.
59:46Another player who's a little bit lower in my week one ranks than he was in the season ranks.
59:52Because there is this question about, we don't really know no matter what they say, what workload they're going to throw at him for his first start.
60:01Um, that said, I think the Patriots pass rush is the potential to be a real problem.
60:06They don't really, Harold Landry isn't playing as an IR.
60:09They don't have any trusted, uh, Kelvin Chase on left.
60:12He's in DC now. You know, Sam Darnold stinks and, and tried to give away that.
60:18He doesn't stink. He's Super Bowl winning quarterback. He's fine.
60:21But he tried to throw a lot of picks in that, in that Super Bowl early.
60:26And, uh, I think under pressure, they might get him to cough it up a little bit.
60:31I just don't think he's going to be under pressure, really good defensive interior clearly for the Patriots.
60:37But even some of the Tonga is gone. So some of the depth is gone.
60:41Um, real defensive questions. I don't have offensive questions.
60:44I think the Patriots offense is going to look better tonight than it did in the Super Bowl.
60:50Your thoughts? Yeah, no, I think that's, I think that's right.
60:53I mean, I do. I think, I think that's right.
60:57And I think it has to with a, with a, with what they've done to the receiving core versus where it was last year.
61:04Um, I, I think there's just no question. Yeah.
61:07And I mean, I, I'm kidding with your thoughts.
61:10Like it would, they would, you said it right.
61:13They would almost have to, it was an embarrassing offensive performance.
61:16It was not a fun Super Bowl to watch.
61:19It was even for people who aren't me. It was gross to watch.
61:23It was just boring because it was pretty clear right away that, oh my God, they cannot block these guys, you know?
61:30Well, and also you could see, you could see how a different great team would have beaten Seattle.
61:36Like Donald missed a bunch of stuff. It's not like they got a great quarterback game.
61:41No. So it was there. Was the MVP. Yeah, exactly.
61:44Yeah. Yeah. Will Campbell, big, big story. He was hurt and hopeless throughout most of that playoff run.
61:50And, you know, he has the little pterodactyl arms that everybody in Boston makes fun of.
61:55Like the left tackle is not left tackle wingspan, you know, kind of thing.
61:59But people say he had a really great camp.
62:02I can tell you the little birdie who sometimes alights on my shoulder is, says that people are going to be surprised
62:09that it's an entirely different guy and he will hold his own.
62:13So, I mean, that's coming from inside the building.
62:15So like, take it for what it's worth. Of course, gee, they're backing one of their players.
62:21What a shock, you know? But they are, they believe.
62:24And then, I mean, Christian Gonzalez signing matters. And let's put it this way.
62:28A lack of Christian Gonzalez would have been a real problem against JSN because they ain't got nothing much else.
62:35But yeah, Gonzalez being in there. I give him a puncher's chance.
62:38Seattle should win this game. It's a terrible environment for the Patriots to have to go into week one.
62:44Crazy, crazy home field advantage. A wonderful crowd. You know, Seahawks fans are great.
62:49And it's celebrating the banner and all that. I do think it's fun.
62:53I don't have the numbers in front of me.
62:56But I, you know, the defending champ sometimes does lose.
62:59You know, in this national TV right away game.
63:02I'm remembering the Lions being the Chiefs a couple years ago in that opener and being like pretty surprised by that.
63:08But fun, though. That's good to hear about Will.
63:11It's good to hear about Will Campbell. I had not actually heard any of that buzz.
63:16And he was kind of, you know, very young player who was getting clowned late in the season in the playoffs.
63:23So that's good to hear. Yeah. So fun. I mean, you know, JSN, a first round pick on all fantasy teams.
63:29He's the highest drafted player in this game. Drake May, not an optimal matchup.
63:34But having A.J. Brown, very exciting. Like, hell of a lot of fantasy stars in this game.
63:39And of course, I will talk about what happens on Thursday's show.
63:43And I think that will do it. I want to thank you all again so much for getting Pound Foolish and getting us on that list.
63:51If you're listening right now, go over to bookshop.org.
63:54Click on bestsellers. And then to the kind of upper right, you'll see top 25 on the website.
64:00Click on that. Not only are we on it.
64:03And like last I checked, we were seventh listed.
64:05But they make like a little custom graphic, Andy, of some of the books that are on the list.
64:11And it's like a cool little graphic. And obviously, it's the same graphic every week.
64:16But they change the – they have some dynamic leak.
64:19They can insert the title. Maybe not. Maybe just Photoshop.
64:22But Pound Foolish is like in that graphic. Like next to massive books.
64:27That's awesome. Massive writers. And that's all because of the opossums.
64:30And also, by the way, if you're reading it or listening to it, love to hear your thoughts on social.
64:36Love for you to go to Goodreads and give it a good review.
64:40I've had people like send me passages over or like tag me in a quote tweet with a passage that they like from the book.
64:48Fantastic. Love to retweet that. So yeah, as much as you can stay interactive with it, that's great.
64:54Love to keep getting the word out there. Love you all very much.
64:58Very much appreciate you doing that. Andy, great job.
65:01You're going to jump aboard on the Thursday episode as well briefly because Jake Trowbridge is on vacation for week one.
65:07So you're going to come and live up to Jake's incredibly large shoes for the DFS segment.
65:13Is he a big shoe guy? Yeah, I set a fun line up here.
65:17I'm ready. He's a bad DFS guy. I'll tell you that.
65:21But he's very, very fun to have on. Well, we appreciate you so much.
65:25If you're not a Yacht Club subscriber and you'd like to learn more, you can learn more at either harrisfootball.com or go to thedeepshot.com.
65:33And you can get a subscription if you so choose.
65:36Thank you so much. We'll talk to you next time.
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