The 2026 All Boring Team
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
1 hr 19 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 28, 2026
Published
Fri, August 28, 2026
19
Player insights
12
Players mentioned
Topics
Kyren WilliamsGarrett WilsonJames CookJavonte WilliamsNico CollinsTravis EtienneAlvin KamaraBlake CorumBo NixBrock PurdyMark AndrewsTerry McLaurin
Player analysis
Player insights
Alvin Kamara
NegativeInjury33:10
Alvin Kamara is dealing with an MCL injury that will keep him sidelined for a month, further solidifying Travis Etienne's role as the primary back for the Saints.
Insight pageBlake Corum
NegativeRole18:16
Blake Corum is expected to maintain a role in the Rams offense, but the source emphasizes that Kyren Williams remains the primary trusted back for Sean McVay, particularly in high-leverage goal-to-go situations.
Insight pageBo Nix
NegativeProjection70:55
The source mentions Bo Nix's injury as a factor in the Broncos' 2024 season outcome, noting the team's Super Bowl odds of 20-1 seem mispriced given their defensive strength.
Insight pageBrock Purdy
PositiveValue38:04
The source is 'all in' on Brock Purdy as a late-round quarterback target, noting he is currently being drafted as the QB15 despite finishing as a top-12 fantasy quarterback in each of his three seasons. Purdy recorded the second-most fantasy points in a single postseason in history and was the QB1 over the final eight weeks of last season. The source highlights his consistency, efficiency (first in EPA per dropback and success rate over three years), and rushing ability as reasons he is the 'quintessential perfect late-round quarterback.'
Insight pageGarrett Wilson
NegativeUsage47:54
The source highlights Garrett Wilson as a massive focal point of the Jets' offense, averaging 9.3 targets per game over the last three seasons, a rate comparable to elite receivers like Amon-Ra St. Brown and CeeDee Lamb. Despite concerns regarding the Jets' coaching staff and quarterback Geno Smith, the source notes that target competition has decreased significantly, as recent draft picks Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper have failed to establish themselves, leaving Wilson as the clear primary target.
Insight pagePositiveValue54:30
The source notes that Garrett Wilson is a talented player who could benefit from a clean pocket for Geno Smith and a favorable schedule, ranking as the 20th wide receiver off the board; the source suggests waiting for him to fall in drafts as he is not a player people are currently reaching for.
Insight pageJames Cook
PositiveValue4:11
James Cook is an elite value at the end of the first round (ADP 9-10). He is a 'rock solid' producer who led the league in rushing in 2025 with 300 carries and 30 catches. The source notes he is an underrated receiver out of the backfield, and new OC Pete Carmichael has expressed intent to increase his passing game involvement, which aligns with Cook's college skill set. He offers a high floor and legitimate ceiling with minimal backfield competition.
Insight pagePositiveProjection64:03
The source expresses high confidence in James Cook, stating he could legitimately finish as the number one running back in fantasy football.
Insight pageJavonte Williams
PositiveValue22:21
Javonte Williams is an overlooked, high-value asset currently going as the RB16 in ADP despite finishing seventh in expected fantasy points last year. He is the clear lead back for a high-scoring Cowboys offense, handles nearly all red-zone carries, and is only 26 years old with high efficiency metrics like yards after contact.
Insight pagePositiveValue64:32
The source indicates they would 'marry' Javonte Williams in a fantasy draft exercise, signaling him as a preferred roster addition.
Insight pageKyren Williams
PositiveValue18:08
Kyren Williams is consistently undervalued in fantasy drafts despite being a top-10 producer whenever he is the primary back. He finished as the RB8 in 2024 and RB11 in 2025. Despite concerns about Blake Corum's involvement, Williams remains a high-end fantasy asset who is currently being drafted as the RB14.
Insight pagePositiveValue18:36
Kyren Williams is consistently undervalued despite being a top-10 fantasy running back whenever he receives the majority of carries. He finished as the RB10 from Week 7 to 17 last year even with Blake Corum involved. Currently ranked as the RB14, he is a safe, high-volume asset on a top-tier offense who is trusted by Sean McVay and sees 70% of goal-to-go snaps.
Insight pagePositiveValue64:23
The source identifies Kyren Williams as a player who is criminally underrated every year.
Insight pageMark Andrews
PositiveValue59:56
The source argues Mark Andrews is the best value at tight end this year, noting he is the cheapest he has been in seven years despite a $40 million contract extension; he is expected to lead the Ravens in touchdowns, and the source dismisses concerns about him losing a step, citing the team's policy against paying declining players.
Insight pageNico Collins
PositiveBreakout8:25
Nico Collins is a high-floor, high-ceiling receiver who is undervalued relative to his production. Over the last three seasons, he ranks WR7 in points per game, ahead of stars like Justin Jefferson and A.J. Brown. While he hasn't had a massive 1,500-yard/12-TD season yet, the source suggests his target rate could increase this year, potentially pushing him into the top-five receiver tier.
Insight pagePositiveValue64:29
The source highlights Nico Collins as a player they would target in a 'fuck, marry, kill' fantasy exercise, noting his name and potential.
Insight pageTerry McLaurin
NegativeBust14:13
The source has moved Terry McLaurin to a 'do not draft' list due to severe concerns regarding the Washington offense. Reports indicate the offensive line is 'inoperable' and the offense is struggling significantly in training camp. Even in a best-case scenario, the source notes McLaurin's fantasy ceiling has historically been capped around WR16.
Insight pageTravis Etienne
PositiveValue32:03
Travis Etienne is an undervalued asset who should be prioritized following Alvin Kamara's MCL injury. The Saints have the second-easiest schedule in the NFL, and the team's significant financial investment in Etienne suggests he will command the goal-line and passing-down work. He is a proven producer with 1,400 scrimmage yards in three of his four seasons.
Insight pageNegativeValue36:48
The source argues that Travis Etienne is undervalued, noting he has recorded 1,400 yards from scrimmage in three of his four seasons and scored 32 touchdowns. The source emphasizes that drafters should not avoid him, as he is a first-round talent who is being drafted behind players like Basial Tootin in some leagues.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00This episode is brought to you by 20th Century Studios, The Dog Stars, now playing in theaters and IMAX.
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0:08When a mysterious radio transmission shatters a lone pilot's isolated existence, he embarks on a dangerous journey in search of hope.
0:14Starring Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, and Guy Pearce.
0:17The Dog Stars, now playing in theaters and IMAX.
0:20Queen Carvana stood haloed by the morning sun. An army hung on her every word.
0:24My champions, I have sold my chariot on Carvana.
0:26T'was a lovely SUV, an inexplicably queenly offer. They're even coming to the castle to collect it.
0:31Tonight, we feast! An offer you can feast on.
0:33Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up these mail, bye.
0:36Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Heifetz.
0:40Today I'm joined in person still in Los Angeles by Danny Kelly and Craig Horlbeck.
0:44We're still here, baby. Okay. We are going to go over the boring players who will win you your league because you know what?
0:50Sexy players are out. Boring players are in. We're half kidding, but we're actually...
0:54There probably is the skeleton key is players that are not trending on social media.
0:58Yes. There's a lot of sleepers. Everybody's aware of the sleepers now.
1:02We believe that the new edge is understanding which boring veterans you should take.
1:06It's a little bit of a bit, but we're also...
1:08I actually think we're right. So, the other thing to know, Netflix today.
1:12Live on Netflix. The Ringer Fantasy Football League. If you're listening on Friday the 28th at 11 a.m.
1:17Pacific today, we are doing our live draft with Bill and the gang on Netflix.
1:21Ringer Fantasy Football League. 1 p.m. Eastern. So, again, it's the three of us.
1:25It's Bill Simmons and his cousin Seth. Yeah. 2 p.m.
1:28Eastern. You know what messes me up? It's three hours, but two and three are next to each other.
1:33You know what? Don't worry about it. It's at 2 p.m.
1:36Eastern. You know what? Now you're looking at it.
1:38Don't worry about it, man. Anyway, go to Netflix and just Ringer Fantasy Football League.
1:43It'll be right there. And you hit live and you're going to watch us.
1:46And here's the key. Even if you're not interested in watching this draft, everyone's going to scream at us.
1:52Everyone's mad at us. We put out the draft order.
1:55None of the people in the league... Can't do anything right.
1:58People didn't like the draft order video. A third of the...
2:01Message received. Literally a third of the league has threatened to quit.
2:04That is not an exaggeration. And, yeah, no, everyone's mad at us.
2:07Everyone hates everything we do. It was a random selection, but people were not happy about it.
2:12Everyone except Chris Ryan, who loves Craig. Chris Ryan got to...
2:15I fucking did it for my guy. Your CR continues.
2:18So, we're going to go into the boring players that win you your league.
2:22But first, we're going to take a quick break.
2:24This episode is presented by Verizon. While you're upgrading your fantasy roster, check out how you can level up your game day with Verizon Shine.
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2:48All right, coming back in. Players we find are boring.
2:51Think are boring. Whatever. Craig, when we started talking about this, the first person you said was James Cook running back for the Bills.
2:58Yeah. So, if we need to pick a guy from the first round who I think is boring, complimentary.
3:03I think Jonathan Taylor is also boring, but I'm not that into Jonathan Taylor in the first round.
3:08I think James Cook is the most boring player in the first round.
3:11Yeah. And is, I think, one of the best values late in the first round.
3:16He's going, like, ninth, tenth overall, so right at the end of the first round.
3:20I just, he's quietly rock solid. I don't think anybody really thinks about him.
3:24He led the league in rushing last year. He had 14 touchdowns last year.
3:27The year before, he had 18. I think the thinking was always, like, well, with Josh Allen, it's impossible for him to
3:34be a running back to really break through. Not the case.
3:37300 carries last year. He was eighth in goal-to-go rushing attempts.
3:40So, still, when they're inside the red zone, when they're close to the end zone, he gets the ball.
3:45The reason why I like James Cook more than I guess I would last year is that, one, we saw him reach
3:51a new level of touches that we didn't think he could do.
3:54Like, the year before that, he only had 200 touches, but he turned them into 18 touchdowns.
3:59He's averaging over 20 touches per game. Totally. He had 200 carries in 2024, but because he had 18 touchdowns, that's why he did so well.
4:06But everybody was like, well, that's not going to happen again.
4:09And then they come back last year, 2025. He has, like, 300 rushes and 30 catches.
4:14Yeah. And so, I think he's now, like, in the elite tier of volume.
4:17And their new offensive coordinator, Pete Carmichael, who was basically Sean Payton's quarterback's coach for the last 15 years, has been talking
4:23a lot about how they want to get James Cook involved more in the passing game.
4:28Which is kind of like what James Cook's, one of his better skill sets was coming out of college.
4:33Right. That was what he was known for coming out was basically, like, he's going to the combine and participating in wide receiver drills.
4:40He's a really good receiver out of the backfield.
4:42He's undersized. And that was kind of his calling card is I could do really well in the passing game.
4:48I think it's fascinating. I do think the reason he doesn't get more hype is because he didn't catch, you know, 60-plus passes or whatever.
4:55He wasn't in that elite tier where you're basically having two players in one roster spot on your team.
5:00But I think it's fascinating that he's not, like, sexier as a fantasy pick.
5:04Because he's so good. When you watch him, he just slaloms through the defense.
5:08Yeah. They always do a good job of getting him in space.
5:11It seems like he has just as many big plays as any of these other sort of, like, high-end, really, you know, more famous, I guess, fantasy picks.
5:19But it is kind of surprising to me that people aren't more excited about him for whatever reason.
5:24I just think he has upside. Like, I think if they throw to him more and utilize something that we know he's good at.
5:30I think a lot of times with running backs, you always hear about, like, the Ravens are thinking about, you know, trying
5:36to pass to Derrick Henry more this year. And you're like, that's not what Derrick Henry's good at.
5:41The fact that they're saying that about James Cook and we know that James Cook can do that makes me more optimistic.
5:47And I feel like great floor and legitimate ceiling at the end of the first round.
5:52And not a lot of competition, really. No. Yeah.
5:54It's like Ray Davis. You know, they have, like, Ty Johnson.
5:57A couple guys, yeah. I think what this translates to is that I think we all agree the top four players are
6:03Jameer Gibbs and the Lions, Bijan Robinson and the Falcons, Jamar Chase and the Bengals, Pukanuku and the Rams.
6:09And then at five, Christian McCaffrey. Some people are excited to get him there.
6:12Some people groan. But I think the answer is you could take James Cook as high as six.
6:17And, like, he might fall out of the first round at some leagues.
6:21I agree with you. But I actually think I prefer James Cook to the Jonathan Taylor on the Colts.
6:26Yep. Because I think the issues with James Cook are, well, the Bills had a really easy schedule last year, like one of the easier schedules.
6:33And maybe they don't win it. I think the Bills were favored in every game and entering the season.
6:39And maybe the schedule's not as easy this year for Buffalo.
6:42But you could say that about so many players.
6:44Jackson Smith and Jigba lost his offensive coordinator. Jonathan Taylor and the Colts.
6:48What if they don't win seven of their first eight games and he doesn't have these positive game scripts?
6:53I think James Cook, again, the receiving if they fall behind, the rushing.
6:57I think you could take James Cook over, yeah, John Taylor and Jackson Smith and Jigba.
7:01But I think the message I want to deliver about James Cook is that if you have, like, the 7, 8, 9,
7:0710th pick in the draft and his name is sitting there, don't overlook him because he's boring.
7:12He is legitimately a great pick. And when you take him, no one will say anything.
7:16But that's kind of the point of this whole episode.
7:19If you wanted to do, like, a blind—you know how you do, like, blind comparisons of two different players' numbers?
7:24Like, him and Derrick Henry are so close in their numbers in terms of total scrimmage yards, not very far apart.
7:30Total touchdowns. Derrick Henry had two more total touchdowns, but Cook had more yards.
7:34Touches per game almost identical. Carries per game almost identical, I mean.
7:37And both on good, explosive, high-scoring offenses with good quarterbacks and quarterbacks that can help open up things in the run game.
7:44It's just fast because, like, they're completely different sizes and totally, like, archetypes.
7:47People don't think of James Cook leading the league in rushing.
7:50No, he's not respected like a top elite running back in real life.
7:54And in fantasy, I know a lot of Bills fans are like, he's not boring.
7:58That's not our point. Our point is James Cook's going around Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, people who have mythology around them.
8:04And James Cook is like, if you ask an actual NFL fan to list the top five running backs in the NFL,
8:10they're probably never going to think about listing James Cook.
8:12No. And so that's a good—it's a great call.
8:15DK, who is your first boring player that you think can win people in the league?
8:19Yeah, and I think—and this is another guy highly ranked, but I think among the elite-tier receivers in the NFL, not as
8:25highly thought of, and that's Nico Collins for the Texans.
8:28I think a lot of this has to do with just the offense he plays in.
8:33People are down on C.J. Stroud. I get all that.
8:35He's also just not famous. Right. Wide receivers are often—A.J.
8:38Brown is famous. Justin Jefferson is famous. Yeah, like, they start first take.
8:42Like, a first take episode can start with A.J.
8:44Brown. And, like, I think you'd be shocked if Stephen A.
8:47Smith's to open with, like, a Nico Collins rant.
8:50Totally, because it's like—we're not saying the way he plays is boring, because it's— Yeah, he's a big play guy.
8:55He's free, huge, fast. It's like basically DK Metcalf fast.
8:58His skill is amazing, but just, like, as a personality, as a name, he is not as famous as the other guys in this range.
9:05In the last three years combined—so last year, he was a wide receiver 10.
9:09You know, 12.7, half PBR, nothing to, like, write home about.
9:12It was not super memorable. But over the last three seasons—this kind of surprised me a little bit when I looked it up.
9:18Wide receiver 7 in points per game. He's ahead of Justin Jefferson, Devontae Adams, A.J.
9:22Brown, Mike Evans, Rasheed Rice, N.T. Higgins in points per game over the last three years.
9:27When he plays, he usually delivers. He's had some injury history a little bit.
9:31He's like a hamstring thing. He gets a little banged up, but when he's on the field, he's fantastic.
9:36When C.J. Stroud—he had such a roller coaster, like, the great rookie year and then the down sophomore year.
9:41But, I mean, part of C.J. Stroud's amazing rookie year was that Nico Collins was like, oh, this random third-rounder out of
9:47Michigan that, like, was kind of like a— Took him a minute to get going in the NFL, too.
9:52Yeah. Yeah. And then his, like, third year, he just—I mean, I think he had more yards his third year than he
9:58had the rest of his career combined. And he was like, oh, my God.
10:02This guy is, like, the best outside receiver in the NFL after A.J.
10:06Brown. And with Jaden Higgins out, they just traded for a Kayshaun Booty, who I think is probably going to play sort
10:12of like a clear-out, the quote-unquote sacrificial X position where you're just running vertical routes.
10:16That's his game. He's really good deep down the field.
10:19I think this will be potentially even good for Nico Collins as they made this trade because he can run those routes.
10:25And then you get Nico on more of the A.J.
10:28Brown-style stuff where you're getting him on slants. He can run after the catch.
10:32Maybe they're going to make him an even bigger part of the game in terms of his target rate, which has never been elite.
10:38He's been a big play guy. But maybe his target rate will tick up a little bit this year.
10:43And he has a chance to be, I think, a top-five receiver.
10:47Yeah. He hasn't had the season yet. Yeah. That's true.
10:49Not the whole season. No. He's had 10-game stretches.
10:52But, like, if you look at his counting stats holistically, he doesn't have more than eight receiving touchdowns in a season.
10:58Like, he hasn't quite had the, like, 91 catches, 1,500 yards, 12 touchdown season.
11:02And, DK, you're saying that, like, you think kind of late second round where he's going right now, he's a solid bet
11:08to do that based on the people around him.
11:10Yes. And I think he's one of those guys who, and these are the types of players you have to point out, high floor and high ceiling.
11:18Because I think he has a really high floor.
11:20He's going to be good. He's going to be the main focal point of the offense.
11:25At the very least, you're going to have a solid starter at your receiver position and not feel, like, terrible about it.
11:31But I think he also has that ceiling play where, like I said, if his target rate ticks up, if the Texans
11:37offense improves, if CJ Stroud has a bounce-back year, you're building – like, you could be a top-five, top-four, top-three even receiver in fantasy.
11:43I think he has that upside that, like, not a lot of guys do.
11:47We have Nico Collins. We have him 21st in our rankings right now.
11:51We're going to update these this week. Like, I think – I still like the top-ten running backs over him.
11:56I still, like, would take Brock Bowers over him.
11:59And I still even, like, up to Devon H.
12:01I like A.J. Brown over him. But I think Nico Collins is right there with Drake London.
12:06I think Drake London – it was easy for me to take Nuka over him when Tua was going to play.
12:12Now that Penix might play, I'm like, yeah. But I'm like, all right, is Penix going to play 17 games this season?
12:18I don't know. So I think Nuka is a – he's – I much rather would have Nuka Collins than, like, Chris Olave, Ibuka.
12:24Like, these other guys, he feels like a much safer receiver in the second round if the top 11 running backs are gone.
12:31DK, I know you're not the biggest A.J. Brown fan.
12:34Would you take Nuka Collins over A.J. Brown? It's really close.
12:37I think I would in some – like, it's one of those ones where maybe switch off.
12:41Like, I don't have a strong, lean A.J. Brown over Nuka.
12:44I think Nuka is more stable and has a higher floor, though.
12:48So I think – I do think – and I agree with you guys.
12:51Like, I know I was playing Devil's Advocate on Bill's show the other day about A.J.
12:56Brown. I do think A.J. Brown has a ridiculous ceiling.
12:59But I think – You left that out. I think I feel like I kind of alluded to that.
13:04But I do think Nuka's floor is higher. I'm just mad that he thinks the floor is higher.
13:09But it's fine. No, I – well, actually, the one thing I want to mention on this, just because I think it's
13:15worth it, is we also talked on our last episode about players we don't want to draft.
13:20And you mentioned David Montgomery. And the issue is Houston.
13:22So they – Braden Smith, the right tackle, got – he carted off.
13:26We don't know the injury. Carted off in training camp is always weird because it's like you think of it like a game.
13:32Sometimes they're like, yeah, but the field's far away.
13:35Like, we just need a golf cart. So we'll see what happened to Braden Smith.
13:39I don't think we have a diagnosis yet. But the Houston offensive line does have, like, major mess potential.
13:44And I think that is something where – that is probably how it goes down, is just if the Texans' offense is a mess again.
13:51Yes. We're kind of pretending it'll be fine again.
13:54Another team that lost – like, Larry Mutonso, the left tackle, is her – he's probably out for the season.
13:59Nick Algrady, the center, is – he doesn't have a timetable for a return from a calf strain.
14:04The Washington offensive line is already a little – I don't know.
14:07Just they're dropping like flies. And I was going to talk about Terry McLaurin as a boring player I really liked.
14:13And I was like, well, Jaden Daniels and Terry McLaurin have, like, a mind meld.
14:17And Terry is just like this guy – like, when you take Terry McLaurin, you're like – you're just not as excited.
14:23It's cooler to have Mike Evans. It's cooler to have Luther Byrd.
14:27And it's cooler to have all these guys, right?
14:29He is – Terry McLaurin might be the most boring player on this list.
14:33Yeah. I think. He's the poster child this year of, like, eh.
14:36Yeah. You're like, oh, you got Terry McLaurin. Like, okay.
14:39He's your number two receiver. It's probably good. Can I tell you something?
14:43The more I think about it, the more I'm like, I actually think we might have to – I can't tell if
14:49Terry McLaurin is a league-winning boring player. But the more I dove into it, I'm like, maybe we need to put all
14:55Washington on the do not draft list. There has not been a good word coming out of Washington.
15:00We've heard privately, publicly reported – like, every – like, it's bad when it all comes in, like, all these different unrelated avenues.
15:06And Nikki Javala, who is at the athletic, who's been at the athletic, who's been at Washington Post, she's been covering Washington for like a minute.
15:13And she said that the Washington offense is the worst she's seen in years and years.
15:18And that the offensive line – the term she used was, it is inoperable.
15:22And that is – Not great. Not no. And I got to tell you, with everything we've seen, this just seems like
15:28the offensive line that they're going to spend all offseason trying to do the under center Jaden Daniels stuff.
15:33And they're going to have to abandon that shit by, like, week four.
15:36Everyone's trying to do the under center stuff. Joe Burrow trying to be under center.
15:41All these guys are trying to be under center.
15:43Guess what? It's not going to work. It's not going to work.
15:46It's not going to work. This offense is going – they're going to have, like, that existential week five, fuck it, we're going back to shotgun.
15:54What about what we did all summer? Not working.
15:56Bail. Like, get Kingsbury on the phone now. Fuck the lemons and bail.
16:00Run away. Run away. So now you're saying you were going to promote McLaurin and now you're like, fuck it.
16:05You're going the opposite direction. Yeah, I'm just going to tell you – we don't do this a lot, but I actually
16:11think I want to belatedly ask you guys for permission to put Terry McLaurin on the do not draft list.
16:17Nothing to do with him, but I'm kind of out of Washington and I'm debating moving Jane Daniels.
16:22I actually – well, my rankings already did this.
16:24I'm moving in below Jalen Hurts because we've talked so much about Jalen Hurts and the Eagles going trying to do this under center.
16:31Like, can they do all this different stuff? I'm very concerned about Washington's offense.
16:35I agree. I had McLaurin as my missionary position guy on Bill's show.
16:38Everyone's had him. Even in the best-case scenario when Washington had, like, a historic offense in terms of efficiency, he was, like, the wide receiver.
16:45He was the 16th best receiver in fantasy. So I'm like, that's kind of – that's the ceiling?
16:50Is that the ceiling? Yeah. Sometimes you've got to take signs and omens.
16:54And Rashad White may have injured his ankle doing the ice bucket challenge.
16:57Great video. Not, you know – Other than the part of getting hurt.
17:01Yeah, yeah. That sucks if he got hurt. But you can kind of see him get up and slip and kind of, like, bounce on his leg weird.
17:09And I wouldn't be surprised if that's it. He's still not practicing, right?
17:12It's not ideal, no. It also – no, I don't – no, he's still not practicing.
17:17He's coming back from – they're calling it a hamstring injury now.
17:20But I do think that – who knows if it was the ice bucket challenge.
17:24And they'll probably never tell us. But I think it might have been the ice bucket challenge.
17:29He did slide in his slides. It backfires. The combination of – Wait, do you think that's why the Ringer Tailgate guys
17:35didn't do the ice bucket challenge when we tagged – We did the ice bucket challenge because Mina tagged us.
17:40They can't afford to get hurt right now. Joel's an athlete.
17:43It's true. Van's a boxer. Van's boxing? No, no, no.
17:46Van's a boxer. You're right. Van's a boxer. And they just – the Ringer Tailgate guys can't do the ice bucket challenge because they're afraid of getting hurt.
17:54That's really – I mean, Tate's a great golfer.
17:56He can't get hurt. No, no. God forbid. Can you imagine?
17:59He's a scratch golfer. No. Legit, though. He actually is.
18:02No, he is a really good golfer. He's really good.
18:05We played with him last year. All right. The next guy on the boring list, Kyron Williams, who perennially one of the
18:11most boring players you can draft, does nothing. Been trying to get rid of this guy forever.
18:16Totally. Everyone's like, Blake Corum. Great. And then the second Blake Corum becomes a guy that everyone's going to take the third
18:22guy and think he's better than Blake Corum. Kyron Williams, 2024, was the eighth best running back in fantasy.
18:27Last year, he was the 11th best running back in fantasy.
18:30Basically, every time this dude is playing and getting the majority of carries, he is a top 10 running back in fantasy.
18:36He is never ranked that way. He's ranked as the 14th running back right now.
18:40Even if you look at last year after Corum became more involved and was getting, like, double-digit touches per game.
18:46Like, vulturing touchdowns and everything. Week 7 to 17, Corum was much more involved.
18:50Kyron Williams in that stretch? RB10. Yeah. Like, you just, you have to stop wish casting or whatever you want to say.
18:56Something that's not, they keep paying Kyron Williams. They keep re-signing Kyron Williams.
18:59He's 26 years old. He's on the best offense in the league.
19:03He was fifth in carries over the last two years.
19:05Like, the goal-to-go situation, Kyron Williams is 70% of the snaps.
19:08Corum is 28. Corum can be involved. That's totally fine.
19:11Right. But Kyron Williams is, like, trusted by Sean McVay.
19:14They're one of the best offenses in the league.
19:16And he gets the ball near the end zone.
19:19And last year they had, what, like, 15 one-yard touchdown passes.
19:22True, the Devontae Adams stuff, sure. If that just regresses even marginally and they run the ball more on the goal line
19:28instead of trying to throw those little, like, passes to Devontae Adams, I mean, he could end up with 13, 14 touchdowns.
19:34We talk about how there's only 11 running backs in fantasy that we want.
19:38And Kyron Williams is a top 11 running back every year.
19:41I do agree, though. It's like you don't see people getting stoked when they draft Kyron.
19:45No, he's the epitome of this. I think Kyron Williams is similar to Devontae Williams to me in that they're not that
19:51exciting in real life or also in, like, fantasy because I think there's a perception, probably reality, actually, that Kyron and Devontae
19:57don't have the upside to have, like, be a top three fantasy running back.
20:01But then when you go back, they're like – you say that over and over, and then nine years later you look
20:07back and you're like, oh, they were never really a bad pick one time, were they?
20:12Not so much about Devontae, but this season, like, I think he's the safest running back.
20:16And I think the knock-on, I'm like – we always talk about the Ryan Heath and the upsides, everything, Scott Barrett.
20:22But that logic, if you're, like, doing the Ricky Bobby, they're safe.
20:25But, like, sometimes that is what people want. It's, like, just a safe player that won't fuck them over.
20:31You say he doesn't have upside. I excluded this because Coram wasn't there, but in 2023 he was the number two running back in fantasy.
20:37So, you know. Which is one of the more shocking ones there's been.
20:41Yeah, but it's 20 points a game. I mean, that's as good as it gets.
20:45So – Yeah, I mean, if Coram gets hurt, he's a top three.
20:49I don't know. We just do this all the time where it's, like, we expect the change to come and it never does.
20:55And you should just – usually the best strategy in fantasy is, like, whatever happened last year will probably happen again this year.
21:01Volume, volume. It's unhappening. You're like, yeah, actually, what if it just does happen?
21:05Everyone's trying to figure out what's going to happen that hasn't happened before.
21:09You should just bet on what happened last year will happen again.
21:12Oh, that's actually really funny. If you've done studies on this, the strongest correlator for fantasy – Is last year.
21:18Future fantasy points is last year's fantasy. Just fade.
21:20Regression's going to regress. I'm guilty of it with Luther Byrd.
21:23I'm like, what could he be? It's like, I'll just take the guy who had 1,300 yards last year because he'll probably just do it again this year.
21:31This is why James – Monrest St. Brown has just had one of the three most consistent seasons ever.
21:36Like, he had 1,000 – like, 1,200 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 100 catches three years in a row.
21:41And I think the only people who have done that three years in a row are like Antonio Brown, maybe Devonta Adams, and like Jerry Rice.
21:48You know what I mean? I think maybe Marvin Harrison and the Colts.
21:52Like, literally just inner circle Hall of Famers and Amon Ross St.
21:55Brown. And they were like, yeah, he – well, eighth.
21:58Yeah. I'm like, I don't know. It's because he's a fifth rounder.
22:01If Kyron can be your fourth pick in your draft, I think that's a lovely pick.
22:06When you say Kyron is the Amon Ra of running backs, well – I think it's James Cook is the Amon Ra of running backs.
22:13That – I'd probably say James Cook. I think it's Kyron.
22:16Well, you're wrong. I like it better my way.
22:18Okay. TK, who's another – I'm going with Javante Williams for the Cowboys.
22:22The reason I say this, and I think in particular – number one, he's just kind of a boring player.
22:27People don't talk about him that much. He used to be so – Used to be sexy.
22:32This was like before he got hurt multiple times.
22:34He got DiCaprio'd. The J.K. Dobbins thing of – You just don't believe him anymore because he got hurt too many times or whatever.
22:41But I've heard more discussion and seen way more – like exponentially more discussion on Twitter and Blue Sky and different various
22:47social media places that about Jaden Blue, Malik Davis, all the backups.
22:50I haven't heard a goddamn thing about Javante Williams, which is – to me it's just kind of crazy, but that says
22:56everything – Because he's too busy resting during the preseason because he's the starter.
23:00Yeah. Last year – Jaden Blue's tearing up third-string defenses.
23:03Yeah, it's like – and every week it's somebody new that's going to be the – like Javante Williams' backup, which I
23:09think tells you everything you need to know that Jaden – or that Javante Williams is going to get the lion's share of everything.
23:16So last year he averaged 27 rushes per game – or sorry, the Cowboys averaged 27 rushes per game.
23:21One of the best offenses in the NFL. And Javante Williams was seventh in expected fantasy points according to fantasypoints.com.
23:27The Cowboys have a very good shot to be the best, number one offense in the NFL this year.
23:32Javante Williams doesn't really split a ton of work.
23:34Right. And he's – can fall to the fourth round.
23:37He's the RB 16 in ADP, and last year he was seventh in expected points.
23:41250 rushes, 252 rushes, which was 10th most among all running backs.
23:45And they're a high-scoring team. They're going to be in the end – they're going to be in the red zone.
23:50He gets almost all of their red zone carries.
23:53Almost exclusively. And he was – he still got it.
23:56Honestly, I think it's like we had this thing.
23:58It's the same with Jacob Dobbins, as I said, where you kind of like think he's washed and you just can't do it anymore.
24:05He's 26. He was fourth in yards after contact per attempt.
24:0826. I think he's – like we got to give him the benefit of the doubt that he's actually pretty good.
24:13He's younger than Kai. Is that right? Is Kai 27?
24:16Yeah. Javante Williams is younger than Kai. Kai's kind of old.
24:19Kai's growing up. He is. Kai's all grown up.
24:22The big hole in the profile. Kai's kind of washed.
24:25Kai is chopped, unk, and washed. Look out, Kai.
24:27Nikhil, 22. Yeah. Nikhil, watch your back. Watch your back.
24:3022. It's crazy how quickly you get washed. By the way, what's unk mean?
24:34I know what it means. If you have to ask your unk – No, where does it come from?
24:39The word uncle. No, I thought that wasn't what it is.
24:42Is that right? Oh, is that not right? It is absolutely from uncle.
24:45Google it. Stop. Stop it. But Googling where the slang term came from is also – I know.
24:50I'm like – That's also – You're unk. I was going to say, where does – It's because you're like an uncle.
24:57You're old. They call Jeremy Bernard unk because you're old.
24:59Where do you think it came from? Yeah. I'm going to let you Google where unk came from.
25:04The reason I ask is I thought it came from uncle.
25:07Like they're calling you like uncle. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly what it is.
25:11But I saw someone talking about how that's not actually what it is, which makes you a total unk.
25:16Did you see it on the talk tick or what?
25:19Where did you see it? You probably watched it on Facebook.
25:22The tick tock. I don't know. All right. Well, I guess if you can find that source.
25:27This is a great – I love the Kyron Javante Williams thing though because it is a great like fantasy brain.
25:32You got to start early running back this year.
25:35And you know what's actually going to work? If you're at the turn, I have the 12th pick in the rear fantasy league.
25:41Oh, here's what I think they were saying it was.
25:44It's short for uncool. There's no fucking way. I don't know.
25:47That's just like a reverse. I don't use it and I didn't make it up.
25:51So that's just what I read. Okay. But it is probably uncle.
25:54Yeah. I think so. But I guess I could be wrong.
25:57The fact that we're asking is an indictment. Okay.
26:00I just feel like I like the combo of what you guys are saying, Kyron Williams, Javante Williams because that's – they're boring.
26:06They're the epitome of this exercise. Every fantasy analyst I feel like has kind of settled on the same strategy, which is
26:12take running backs early, get receivers in the middle, and it's not unique to us.
26:17We've been saying that. And I'm like, you know what's probably going to work?
26:20All the running backs are going to get hurt.
26:23And we're going to – if I took Justin Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb with my 12th and 13th picks and then I
26:29came back in and I took Javante and Kyron Williams with the next turn and my starting lineup was Kyron Williams, Javante Williams, Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb.
26:36Three weeks into the season, all your cool, sexy sleepers are probably going to suck and my team will probably be crushing.
26:42And it's like in theory not like a sexy preseason team.
26:45And then the season begins. You're like, holy fuck, I'm never going to die.
26:49Let me ask you this. What feels better? Having a team of boring-ass players and dominating all like the new like up-and-coming
26:55pip squeaks and all them or whatever? Or does it like feel better to find the next guy and be like –
27:02If you find the next guy, it's the best feeling in the world.
27:05But it's equally terrible when you take all these shots on these upside picks and none of them pay off.
27:11Then you go 0 for 6, yeah. It's like the sunk cost where you're like, I got to double down and I
27:17got to keep starting them because what if I bench them and then it works out?
27:21So then you're just like starting Luther Burden for 16 games and it never happens.
27:25What gets forgotten too is that – and this is maybe the biggest blind spot of when we try to talk about
27:31fantasy during the season – is we forget how – we're like reading the points per game as an average, as if
27:37that was not an average of absolute rollercoaster. And five weeks into last season, Cousin Sal had Emeka, Abuka, and Tyler Warren.
27:43And Justin Jefferson – we were like, he's never going to die.
27:47I don't think I can die. And then CeeDee Lamb got a high ankle sprain.
27:51Justin Jefferson started playing with J.J. McCarthy. Colts collapsed.
27:53Colts – and then yeah, Tyler Warren dropped off a cliff and then Emeka, Abuka played through an injury.
27:59And he went from literally the best team in the league by far to basically the worst team in the league.
28:04And even – if you could see the first five weeks of the season, you could not build the best team for week 10.
28:11And like I think we forget that sometimes. And so there's something to be – I don't know.
28:16That's all. There's also something to be said about the best strategy can sometimes just be zagging.
28:21Yes. It almost doesn't matter what it is. It's just when everyone's moving one way, it's like the Rams using tight ends.
28:27It's like we just need to go against the personnel, try something else.
28:30It's like if everybody in your league – That's what the Patriots did with Belichick for years.
28:35You have to beat 11 other teams, just do something they're not doing.
28:39If everybody in your league is trying to get the top two 11 running backs, maybe you go the opposite and you
28:45just get two fantastic values at wide receiver to start your draft because nobody's taking them.
28:49And that's why it's funny with the tight end thing because in real life, all these NFL teams are trying to do
28:55more two tight end sets and more three tight end sets.
28:58And I'm curious what you think about this, DK, but I do think fundamentally – we haven't talked about it a ton.
29:04We've tried to do a lot of more fantasy help people for drafts.
29:08But it is an interesting thing because fundamentally, if you go to the core, it's like why are teams doing this?
29:14Why does it work? I do think it's a supply issue where it's – well, college football is producing more tight ends than linebackers.
29:20Like you can't – it is so much harder to have four capable linebackers that can play pass and run defense.
29:26It's just easier to find four tight ends that can have passable run blocking and pass like being able to be a conceivable pass weapon.
29:33You put your fourth best linebacker on the field over the course of the season.
29:37You're like, oh, well, two of our top five guys are hurt, so we're going to drag this guy on the field.
29:43You could probably expose the fuck out of that fifth linebacker and your fifth tight end might be able to play.
29:49But it's all cyclical. You know what I mean?
29:51And it's like the Rams were ahead of it.
29:54By 2028, no one's going to be playing these two tight end sets anymore.
29:58Yeah, so like if there's – like if you're in like an auction draft, let's say, and all of these top running backs, Saquon and B.
30:05Sean Robinson, all these guys are crazy bidding wars.
30:07Everybody's stretching their wallet to try to get two of these 11 guys.
30:11You could just bail, not do any of that, get the wide receivers for an affordable cost and then figure running back out later.
30:18Honestly, you might have a better team. Yeah. Just because you're not overspending like everybody else.
30:22So would you actually do that? Because I feel like we've said so much about the early running back thing, but I
30:28do feel like I don't – You have to play it as it comes to you.
30:33Yeah, yeah. If you feel like it's – that's the toughest – the hardest advice to give about it.
30:38It's like what do I do in my draft?
30:40It depends. Being nimble is like the best thing.
30:43It's just like you've got to feel it out.
30:45You've got to see how things are going, what's inflated, what's not, and you've got to act on it.
30:51I feel like when – I'm just thinking the whole time you guys are talking, when you win with guys like this that we've talked about.
30:58When you just dominate a play. It feels like you're just freaking posting someone up.
31:02Like just throw it to me in the post.
31:04I'm going to back you down. Just Tim Duncan.
31:07Tim Duncan. Kyron Williams is my third running back.
31:09Will hook shot. Totally. Yeah, Kyron's your third running back.
31:12I will say that is the other part about – that I do think – this is actually the biggest blind spot
31:18I think when you look at fantasy rankings and it's happening because of best ball.
31:22And now the first year in forever, the best ball is like more running back heavy.
31:27The part – there's so much of fantasy analysis is influenced by what happens with best ball over the summer.
31:32is everyone forgets that three weeks into the season, everyone is trying to trade wide receivers away to get running backs.
31:38Like running backs are so much more valuable three weeks into the season than they were even three weeks ago.
31:43Yeah, because you look at your running backs that you're going to play and somebody gets hurt and you're like, I'm fucked.
31:50And it's just – yeah, it's rarely – if you get through the healthy guys, like having a bunch of running backs, it usually works.
31:56Speaking of which, I want to ask you guys about a running back that we haven't not talked about, but is Travis H.N.
32:03for the Saints, the artist formerly known as Travis Etienne.
32:06And so I do think he's an oddly boring player.
32:08Totally. Like he's pretty exciting for a boring guy.
32:11Been around a minute, won the national championship with Trevor Lawrence at Clemson, missed his rookie year.
32:15I don't think he's super highly regarded. Like people don't think he's that good.
32:19No. I think he had really high expectations coming out, kind of didn't meet them the first two seasons.
32:25Broke his foot. And everybody kind of just forgot about him.
32:28And he's quietly been pretty good. But I agree with you.
32:31He's not a top-tier guy in people's mind. And so he – I mean, he had 1,100 yards last year, and that
32:37was like kind of a renaissance for Travis Etienne.
32:39Started very hot. Started very hot. And I feel like we haven't really been able to talk about him properly because I
32:45was really high on him over the summer when we thought Camara – Alvin Camara was going to retire.
32:51Then Alvin Camara decided to come back, and we moved Travis Etienne like way down because we're like, man, Camara probably took a lot of receiving work.
32:58Yeah, a lot of receiving work. And also Camara might be in for the goal line stuff.
33:03You're like, man, I don't know about this now.
33:05And Alvin Camara has this like MCL injury and is going to be out a month.
33:10But I'm like, eh, he was already kind of – Camara was getting cooked before.
33:14Camara rehabbing an MCL injury midseason, I'm like the guys behind Camara have done nothing.
33:18It's Kendry Miller who Dennis Allen fucking hated. And you have like Audrick Estame.
33:22I can't believe Kendry Miller's still around. I know.
33:24Watch him just be a good sleeper. But I just – the Saints team, it's kind of back to what we thought,
33:30which was it's just going to be Travis Etienne getting – you have $14-plus million a year in free agency.
33:36The Saints have, I believe, the second easy schedule in the entire NFL.
33:39It's like the Lions have the easiest, and then the Saints have the second easiest.
33:43That is like why I'm just automatically – I think the Saints are going to win the NFC South purely because that schedule stuff.
33:50Look at the Patriots last year having the easiest schedule.
33:53Like it does play out that way where the schedule matters.
33:56And I just think the Saints – I think Travis Etienne is going to get the goal line stuff.
34:01He ends up doing a lot more passing down work because I don't think the guys behind him are particularly impressive in those situations.
34:08And I think the Saints know that their depth chart sucks because they traded for fucking Zemir White.
34:13Yeah. Which is insane. I kind of forgot he was in the NFL.
34:16I didn't realize he was. So I think they're really concerned about their depth.
34:20But all that's to say is I think Travis Etienne is in this tier.
34:24I know that's like a long-winded thing, but I just think he's, to me, kind of in this category of they're not
34:30as good of an offense as Dallas or the Rams, obviously.
34:33But I think Travis Etienne, we should – he might be ahead of – he should be near Brees Hall, Cam Scadaboo.
34:39Like is he ahead of DeAndre Swift? Like I think he's higher than these guys.
34:43And I think it's a conversation is are you going to look back and want him or Luther Burden?
34:49I think I'm moving him ahead of like Terry McLaurin.
34:51Like, you know. I agree with that. These are the hardest guys to draft in my opinion.
34:56I have one buddy in my high school league, Jackson, who every year just drafts like six of these running backs.
35:02He'll just take Kyron, Javante Williams, Travis Etienne. They're all like 15, 20 bucks.
35:06He doesn't care. And he's just like, oh, just scoop all of them up.
35:10Just a patchwork of running backs. Everyone can spend 52 on Saquon Barkley and McCaffrey.
35:14I'm just going to scoop up like five of these guys.
35:17Three of them will be massive values. Two won't work.
35:20But they were super affordable. Or sometimes like all of them work.
35:23Like he described like Bucky Irving and all these people.
35:26Right. And to me, what's nice about these picks is they're not competitive picks.
35:29No. There's not going to be fights for them.
35:32Nope. No one's going to be reaching for them.
35:34They're always just going to be sitting there waiting for you, waving at you.
35:38Yeah. They're going to fall. People take these people begrudgingly.
35:41Totally. And again, think about the difference between Travis Etienne and Ken Walker.
35:45They both signed in free agency for about $12 or $13 million per year.
35:48And I understand the Chiefs are a sexier offense than New Orleans, obviously.
35:52However, Ken Walker is going to be like a top 15 pick in fantasy or certainly a top 20 pick.
35:58And he has a history of foot issues. He had a weird shoe thing today that I don't know what to make of.
36:04We'll have to wait for reporting on that. His shoe was making his foot hurt is what the explanation is.
36:09I don't understand. Who among us hasn't had a bad experience with a new pair of shoes?
36:14You mostly don't hear about that. But then you look at Travis Etienne.
36:18He's getting the same amount of money. And you're like, oh, what are they going to do with him?
36:23Well, they paid him $12 million in free agency to run the ball and set up around Tyler Shuck.
36:28I'm like, I don't know. Now that Kamara's out, I think he's, to me, just leaps out as like an obvious in retrospect.
36:35Oh, yeah. I think almost we haven't learned the lesson of Derrick Henry's sake one.
36:39When teams choose to pay money in free agency for running back, it's because they sat around and were like, we're going
36:45to give this guy the fucking ball. I totally agree with you.
36:48Etienne has 1,400 yards from scrimmage in three out of four seasons he's been in the league.
36:53And he scored 32 touchdowns. It's not like he's been terrible.
36:56He's a first-round pick, too. Like he's a toolsy player.
36:59The lesson with these guys is like, you don't have to avoid them.
37:02It's okay to draft them. Yeah. Like, yeah. It's funny to think that like there are leagues where Basial Tootin is going ahead of Travis HM.
37:09Yeah. You know what I mean? And I already can tell Basial Tootin is going to be like the rushing yards leader
37:15because of how many times I've had his shit talking.
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37:59Any other boring players, Craig? Yes. I want to bring up a quarterback who I think really fits this category.
38:04Brock Purdy. Is it because he's ugly? You guys are so mad at me.
38:08You ranked him dead last in the NFL. That's fucking crazy.
38:11You put Brock Purdy. When I think back on it.
38:14It makes me question a lot. When I think back on it, I don't know how that happened.
38:19I think it was just like, I'm moving him down.
38:22You're like, this is the ugliest guy in the NFL.
38:24He's absolutely not the ugliest guy. No, he's like a perfectly normal looking guy.
38:28I don't actually know how. 32. I don't know how that happened.
38:32Yeah. You put Aaron Rodgers ahead of Brock Purdy.
38:34Maybe you think he's so boring, he's just completely underwhelmed.
38:37You didn't even see him. You didn't notice him.
38:39It's like I forgot he was there. Sure. Yeah.
38:42Well, that's a good... You kind of forget he's there in fantasy, but he always is.
38:46So we talked a lot about how this summer, about how good Trevor Lawrence was to close last year.
38:51In the fantasy playoffs, Trevor Lawrence had the most points ever in the history of fantasy football for a quarterback, basically.
38:57Brock Purdy last year in the fantasy playoffs was second.
39:00The second most fantasy points in the history of fantasy football.
39:03That Bears game was awesome. He had like three touchdowns and fives and three.
39:07Literally, he had the second best playoffs in fantasy football history for a quarterback, Brock Purdy.
39:1131 points per game. Yes. He... Damn. Was beat up all year.
39:15Had turf toe. I can relate. It sucks. He was in and out.
39:18Yeah, we don't talk enough if you got turf toe and I had to pull the hamstring in the last 12 months.
39:24We're getting old. We're doing our own research. Early 30s.
39:27But despite all that, he was a quarterback six last year.
39:30He was the sixth best quarterback in points per game.
39:33He does this every fucking year. I'm kind of all in on Brock Purdy this year.
39:37He does this every year. He has... I can tell.
39:40Weirdly. Yeah. Right now in drafts, he's getting taken as the 15th quarterback off the board.
39:44He has never not been a top 12 quarterback in fantasy.
39:47Yeah. Last three years. Quarterback six. Then they didn't have McCaffrey for an entire year.
39:52He was the quarterback 12. And then last year, he was the quarterback eight.
39:55Over the last eight weeks last year, he was the quarterback one.
39:59He's... Over the last three seasons, he's first in EPA per drop back.
40:02He's first in success rate. And over the last three years, he's the sixth best quarterback in fantasy.
40:07I'm just like... He gets beat up a lot.
40:10He got the elbow thing. He got the turf toe.
40:13He got a shoulder. Yeah. When this dude plays with Shanahan, it works.
40:16He's mobile. He runs. When he's healthy, he is a top 12 quarterback.
40:20And he's going 15th. And it's not sexy. And I get it.
40:23But we're saying late round quarterback is a great thing to do this year.
40:27Kyler Murray, Malik Willis, whatever you want to do.
40:29Brock Purdy. Brock Purdy is the quintessential perfect late round quarterback.
40:32I've been all in on this this year. I'm afraid I'm one year too late on the train or something like that.
40:38He does it every year. Yeah. But that's the thing is he's been incredibly consistent at it.
40:43And it's really, to me, it's a trust in Shanahan for running a good offense.
40:47It's going to be a good offense. And you need McCaffrey.
40:50I mean, me saying he was the 12th quarterback without McCaffrey, that's true.
40:54But that's flirting with like, he's not a good pick.
40:57It's an average pick. Right. You do probably also have to rely on McCaffrey being healthy all year.
41:02And Kittle. For him to kind of... And Evans.
41:04Yes. For him to be a great pick. Well, I feel like it's mostly just McCaffrey.
41:09Yeah, yeah. But it is slightly tied to that, I would say.
41:12Which is... Also, they might be a... Worrisome. They might be a sneaky shootout team.
41:16Like a team that just has to score a lot of points because their defense isn't as good as it used to be.
41:22Mm-hmm. What say you? Substation? That's what I'm worried about.
41:25It's been there the last couple of years, though, for the record.
41:28You have to be bold. It has gotten bigger.
41:31You have to be bold with it. It literally has gotten bigger.
41:34So, in all seriousness, I think my answer is not that I disagree.
41:38I love the substation. I love the way the substation's talking to you.
41:41Good. That's a good zag. So... Pop them down lower.
41:44I'm all in on substations. Yeah. We need to build more.
41:47Build more substations. Yeah. Here's my question. Okay. Where exactly are you taking them?
41:51Because here's the thing. If you win quarterback this year, it really works.
41:55And just to say the names because it's obvious.
41:57Put the 49... You know those balls of electricity where you stand in the middle and...
42:02Like the orbs? Electricity. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. What's with those?
42:05Let's stick them in those. I'll tell you. I have them ranked 10th.
42:08Okay. So, Josh, Lamar, Drake May, Jaden Daniels, Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Caleb Williams, Trevor Lawrence.
42:13That's nine. Dak Prescott, 10. I have him above Dak.
42:16I have him above Bo Nix. Above Dak. Kyler Murray, Jackson Dart.
42:19Yeah. See, I think the... That's one of those things that feels...
42:22Eyes Dak at 11. It feels weird to do that, but then when we look back at the end of the year...
42:29He does it every year! When we look back at the end of the year, he's going to be...
42:34He's Kyron. He's the Kyron Williams. Yeah. What would you...
42:37Okay. That's definitely true. Brock Purdy... Don Rossi Brown?
42:39No, because Amon Rao has a good... Like, Amon Rao has good clips from his podcast.
42:43Like, you know what I mean? Like, he's... You know, he had the blue hair.
42:48What do you think we'd talk about if he had a podcast?
42:51Like... Probably that... You hear that fucking guy who said it was the ugliest quarterback in the NFL?
42:56His favorite hikes, probably. He'd start ranking ugly podcasters, and I wouldn't do well.
43:00He'd rank his favorite LaCroix flavors. I'm going to go with Pomplemousse.
43:03Yeah. Oh, my God. That's up there for me.
43:06Lime? Yeah. He's like, I'm more of a spin drift guy now.
43:09I think those are the conversations he's having. So, you know, I got...
43:12I signed one contract. All of a sudden, I'm drinking spin drift.
43:16You signed one $250 million contract, and you upgrade to San Pellegarino.
43:19Kirkland brand? Come on. Kirkland sparkling water? Yeah. You sparkling water guy?
43:22Yeah. Sometimes. I don't like flavored sparkling water. I like plain.
43:25Like, just the... What's with that? Just use it as bubbly?
43:28That's it? What's confusing about that? I guess nothing.
43:31Okay. I'm just shocked that you would like that.
43:33Sparkling water is actually the original, and then they added flavor.
43:36Oh, my God. That was, like, brutal. What's confusing about that?
43:39He's about to be like, what are you doing?
43:42The clear version? I'm like, yeah, water? Not that I was trying to...
43:46With carbon... I wasn't trying to clarify that was the one you were talking about.
43:50They added bubbles to water. I was more, like, shocked that's why you like that flavor, or non-flavor.
43:55Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. I like regular sparkling water.
43:58I don't... So, why don't you just drink water?
44:00Sparkling water is water. I also drink... I'm not saying I only drink sparkling water.
44:04I just like occasionally a glass of sparkling water.
44:07A little mouthfeel. Yeah. Mouthfeel? Yeah. That's a funny word, but...
44:10You don't ever just want a glass of sparkling water at dinner?
44:13It's nice. Refreshing. Yeah. With gas. As they say in Europe.
44:16With gas. Do they say that? I don't know.
44:19I think so. Anyway, me adding Brock Purdy 10th, is that offensive to you two?
44:23No. But you... I wouldn't do it, but I understand.
44:26Why wouldn't you do it? Because I don't think Brock Purdy has a great path to being a top three or four
44:32difference-making quarterback as easily as guys who can run for, like, more yards.
44:35Purdy's mobile, but Jackson Dart's really mobile. Kyler Murray's really mobile.
44:38I understand why you don't want Lake Willis, because the Dolphins are actively tanking.
44:42I'm not going to argue that, like... Also, Lake Willis hasn't necessarily been a huge rushing threat all the time.
44:48I mean, six passing touchdowns in four years, so I get that.
44:51Yeah, you are much lower on him. You have him as your 16th quarterback.
44:55DK has him 11th. I have him 10th. It's no offense to Purdy.
44:58I just have him in a group of, like, Purdy's with Patrick Mahomes and Matt Stafford.
45:03You talk about things that will happen again. Well, I'm like, Matt Stafford, just go...
45:07Like, in the past, Matt Stafford would have been, like, the seventh quarterback.
45:11You know? And, like, that's too high. It's kind of crazy that I'm asking that question, because Mahomes quietly was very good
45:17in fantasy last year, but he ran a ton.
45:19Yes, that's the thing. I'm like, it's one of those where...
45:22I just don't want to end up with... I'm not against Purdy, but I think it's the most risk you're ever taking in the Niners, because I don't...
45:30It seems like Kyle Shannon's getting better with the concussion, but I just...
45:33Can't you just envision us sitting here? It's August 26th.
45:36Don't you just have a premonition of us sitting here next year, and you're talking about Brock Purdy, and you're like, throughout
45:42last year, Kyle Shannon, he got a car accident right before the season.
45:46Of course that was never going to work. The Niners are perhaps the most obvious hindsight is 2020 team.
45:51However, I feel like the Niners are a disaster at the beginning of every season.
45:55They're always a top 10. And even by their...
45:58Like, Cleveland is an embarrassment even by Cleveland standards.
46:00This 49ers season is an embarrassment even by... Or not an embarrassment.
46:03It's a bad omen, everything's going to go wrong season, even by 49ers standards.
46:07And I just... How many things do I need to see to be like, I don't know about San Francisco this year,
46:13and that's why I moved Brock Purdy down, is because I take...
46:17It's not I'm trying to make light of Kyle Shannon's concussion.
46:20I'm taking it very seriously. Like, he was talking two and a half weeks ago about not being able to talk to multiple people at the same time.
46:27And I'm like, okay, let's say there's a 12% chance that Kyle Shanahan's play calling has diminished this year.
46:33I'm like, okay, I'll move Brock Purdy down three spots.
46:35I think we should turnkey all these players. So, you don't believe Brock Purdy deserves to be on this list.
46:41I'm not against him. I just think I'm not targeting him.
46:44I don't think he's a bad pick at all.
46:47You were talking about, like, the mobile guys or whatever.
46:49Last year, Purdy... This is shocking. Purdy had more rushing points per game.
46:53Fantasy rushing points per game than Lamar Jackson, Daniel Jones, Caleb Williams.
46:56Those are the three big that kind of stand out to me, but, like, I would not have guessed that.
47:02Lamar Jackson in particular. Well, Lamar's hurt. I know, but, like, I would have expected, like, the way that we're talking about
47:08Caleb Williams this year, oh, he also runs. He also gives you that scramble.
47:12Like, Purdy is scrambling around just as much. No, he is.
47:15What do you like to say about him? Sneaky little shit.
47:18Sneaky little shit. He's always just scampering around. Yeah, I...
47:20He's always just scampering. Yeah, he's rummaging through your garbage at night.
47:24That scoundrel. I think you nailed it. Brock Purdy is the Kyron Williams of quarterbacks.
47:28I think that's exactly true. Including draft game. Yes, I'll turn Keaton.
47:31I've put my money where my mouth is on this.
47:34I've got him. Do you have any other boring...
47:36In my home league, and I really hope he does well.
47:39Do you have any other boring players, DK, that you like for this year?
47:43This is a... We're going to go with a Jets player here, which is always really...
47:48Fuck. Sometimes it doesn't work out to do that.
47:50Most of the time. Most of the time. Is it Brees or Garrett Wilson?
47:54It's Garrett Wilson for the Jets, who I don't think we've talked about one time.
47:58He's not sexy. No. And he's become boring. He used to be incredibly...
48:02Sexy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I think... First of all, I think he's really good at the game.
48:07I think he's a really good receiver. Secondly... I'm not...
48:10He is good. I'm laughing because just the way you said that was funny.
48:13He's good at the game. Good at the game.
48:16I trust that, at the very least. I don't trust the Jets.
48:19And I don't really trust Gino anymore. But if Gino kind of reverts back...
48:23Last year was a complete fucking mess with the Raiders.
48:26Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.
48:28Coaching, we've talked about it ad nauseum. The coaching was horrible.
48:31No one was on the same page. All that stuff.
48:34Gino was terrible. If Gino can get back to even something close to what we saw in 2024, 2023, I think this
48:40Jets passing game can be a lot better than people are sort of projecting it to be, expecting it to be.
48:46Not elite, but a lot better. A lot more usable in fantasy.
48:49And if you go back three seasons, and the quarterbacks that he's had, Garrett Wilson's had over the years, Aaron Rodgers, I think, one year was pretty good.
48:57And then other than that, it's just an absolute...
49:00You didn't like the Tim Boyle Jets performance? Zach Wilson...
49:02What's that white guy? Mike White. Mike White. The white guy.
49:05White Lotus. If he was good, he would have gone by the White Lotus.
49:09Yeah. Yeah. That's honestly his biggest issue, is not doing that.
49:12Anyways, go back... Chris Streveler? That was the craziest one, because he was like the XFL.
49:17He had won the Canadian League or the XFL MVP.
49:19Is there another big one we're missing that was a quarter?
49:22I mean, Justin Fields. Was Flacco? Justin Fields. Yeah.
49:25He couldn't complete a pass. He had two different stints of Joe Flacco.
49:28That's the crazy... Garrett Wilson and Joe Flacco twice.
49:31Yeah. Anyway, so it's not been great, but apart from all that, he's averaged 9.3 targets per game over the last three seasons.
49:37He's still a massive, massive focal point of the offense, and the only guys that have had more than that per game
49:43over the last three seasons than Garrett Wilson targets, Amon Ra, Devante, CeeDee Lamb, Puka, Jamar, and Neighbors.
49:48He's up there with the elites in terms of target rate, commanding targets, being the focal point of the offense.
49:54If you just swapped Justin Jefferson for Garrett Wilson, where do you think Garrett Wilson would go in drafts?
49:59Like this year they were traded or their whole careers?
50:02Well, let's just say this year. Wow. That's a really interesting question.
50:05I think a lot earlier. Would he be like a second round pick?
50:09Probably. Garrett Wilson would certainly be higher than... Oh my God.
50:12That's breaking my brain. I think Justin Jefferson would...
50:14Sorry. Garrett Wilson would probably be around that Nico Collins tier, right?
50:18And I think... I can't tell... There's a number of variables working against Garrett Wilson, number one.
50:22Jets. Just history. He was hurt last year for a big chunk of the season.
50:26People kind of forgot about him. No Jets receiver had 400 yards last year.
50:30Which has never happened. Right. Terrible. But I think like after the draft and kind of throughout the offseason, we've been like,
50:36oh, the Jets are not only going to be bad and Gino's going to be bad, but now there's just this massive amount of target competition.
50:44They just drafted two guys, Kenyon Sadiq, Omar Cooper.
50:46Turns out, I don't think either of those guys are going to be playing much this year.
50:51Like the way that preseason and training camp have gone, Kenyon Sadiq is hurt.
50:55It doesn't sound like Omar Cooper has really like established himself at all.
50:58He's not even the wide receiver three at this point.
51:01Omar Cooper is bordering on irrelevance for first-round pick.
51:03It's making me a little nervous on him. But...
51:06So then he's basically going... Garrett Mitchell's basically going against A.D.
51:09Mitchell, who has, outside of last year when Garrett was gone, not been able to command targets.
51:14He's basically been... He had the touchdown where he threw the ball away at the goal line and then they traded him.
51:20Sure. Yeah. That doesn't exactly demand targets when you do that.
51:23He's so mad he got rid of the ball.
51:25He's still got so many targets. A.D. Mitchell is the big target competition.
51:29Then outside of that, it's like Isaiah Williams, Tim Patrick, you know, Mason Taylor, the tight end.
51:33It's not a huge amount of target competition. This is a good somebody on this team has to catch the ass.
51:39This guy, we do this all... There's always a couple guys every year in fantasy where it's like, if the horrible quarterback
51:45situation can be decent, this guy's a value. So, I have been hating on Garrett Wilson all offseason.
51:50And I think we all agree, Garrett Wilson's a great receiver.
51:53And he's replaced Terry McLaurin, who replaced DeAndre Hopkins, as the guy who's replaced Larry Fitzgerald, as the quarterback who has had the worst cavalcade of quarterbacks.
52:01Over and over. There's no question Garrett Wilson's talented.
52:03The question is, I have been saying over and over and over again that I don't believe in Aaron Glenn as the
52:09head coach and Frank Reich as the offensive coordinator and Geno Smith as the quarterback.
52:13Having said that, one year ago, one year ago to the day, we were like, oh my God, man.
52:19Can you believe the Seahawks replacing Geno Smith with Sam Darnold?
52:22That might be a huge mistake. We were like, Raiders, great vibes.
52:25Geno, you have Gentie, Brock Bowers. Darnold on Seattle.
52:28And then Geno Smith quarterbacked the team that had the worst record in the NFL and then the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
52:34So all you're saying is, what if Geno is somewhere between the guy we thought he was a year ago and the worst quarterback in the league?
52:41Because even in the middle of that, any kind of competency, and the Jets have a much better, more talented, probably, offensive line than the Raiders do.
52:49And also, if Frank Reich is a more talented offensive, has more left in the tank than I thought.
52:54Because I've been saying over and over, he's been out of Stanford for two years, he's been out of the NFL.
53:00He's got more left in the tank than Chip Kelly.
53:03We know that. That is honestly a good way to say it.
53:06Geno Smith doesn't have to be great. You don't have to be faster than the bear.
53:10Pretty much like what I'm saying. So I'm afraid.
53:13Geno Smith doesn't have to be great. He just has to be not fucking horrible.
53:17I know, but anytime you say that, I always get nervous.
53:20Because this was the exact argument I made for Calvin Ridley last year.
53:24I was like, Cam Ward doesn't have to be great.
53:26But Ward was a rookie. I know, but still.
53:29It's like he was the first overall pick in the fucking draft.
53:32So you'd assume that he could be okay. But this is the thing.
53:36Because I think a lot of Jets fans are mad at how much I've said.
53:40Because it's nothing to do with Garrett Wilson or nothing to do with Brees Hall either.
53:44On different teams, they'd be great. But I am afraid.
53:47Because I've been wondering who's the player this year that I'm going to be like, don't take him.
53:52That's amazing. Because there's always one every year. And I've been wondering if it's Garrett Wilson.
53:56You know how Sal does that one Super Bowl?
53:59Gary Russell. The Gary Russell. You've got to do the Josh Jacobs pick of the year where it's like the guy I hate that will explode.
54:06Well, I think you guys have to tell me.
54:09I think if I say it, I think the question is.
54:12But here's the thing. There's only two. It's going to be Basial Tootin or Garrett Wilson probably.
54:16You know what I mean? And it's because I keep using Basial Tootin every time.
54:20We should just count the number of times you say a certain name.
54:24Basial Tootin's going ahead of fucking Drake May. How does that make sense?
54:28Basial Tootin's out in the lead I think now.
54:30Garrett Wilson though has been high where I'm like, you want to take someone over Garrett Wilson?
54:35I'm like, you're just believing in Frank. But I understand it's much easier to believe that Garrett Wilson would be great because there's no question that he's talented.
54:42And Geno Smith could play well for three quarters.
54:45And then we'd be like, oh. I think this is a good one, DK, to be honest.
54:50I think the offensive line is a big part of this.
54:53I think if Geno has a clean pocket, I feel pretty good that he can get the ball to Garrett Wilson.
54:58The Jets also have the fifth easiest schedule according to Warren Sharpe's metrics.
55:02I don't know. To me, it's like I don't feel this with my chest necessarily, but it's just a zag based on
55:08some of the variables that I think could happen.
55:11I know. He's like going a little earlier than I want him to be going.
55:15Like he's like the 20th wide receiver off the board next to Lad McConkie.
55:19I'm way rather than have Lad. Also, look at the offensive court.
55:22Again, it's betting on horses versus betting on jockeys.
55:24Like look at the offensive coordinators around Garrett Wilson.
55:27It's Bears and Chargers. A guy like Lad I think has a chance of going much earlier.
55:32People will reach. Like we said with all these guys, I don't think anyone's reaching for Garrett Wilson.
55:37People are not excited to get Garrett Wilson. So wherever you see him in like rankings, he's going to go there or later.
55:43He's going to fall. And that's the point is maybe you wait around.
55:46If you're thinking about him, you can. Maybe that's how a lot of these guys work.
55:51If you think about Garrett Wilson, you could pick someone else, wait around.
55:54Garrett Wilson might fall back to you. And then you're like, okay.
55:58That's the best feeling by the way. It is great.
56:01I love that. I almost took that guy last round.
56:03That's the best feeling in the world. Got him.
56:06There's no better feeling. Number one feeling. It's the best feeling in the fucking world.
56:10When Garrett Wilson falls around. Would you rather that or great piss?
56:13Rank the feelings in the world. A great piss.
56:16Great piss. Garrett Wilson falls around later than you thought.
56:18Or sex. Oh, God. I think you nailed the order right there.
56:22Yeah, you got it. Fuck, marry, kill. Don't change anything.
56:25Fuck the piss. I kill sex. Yeah. I fuck the piss.
56:28And then I marry Garrett Wilson falling around. Fuck the piss.
56:31I don't know how that works, but it does.
56:33All right. We have one more boring guy. One last.
56:36Mark Andrews for the Ravens. Yeah, I love this one.
56:39It painted me of a boring tight end. Totally.
56:41I just, no one. Everyone's pretty much out of him.
56:44People are sick of Mark Andrews. You're sick of him or you don't feel anything at all.
56:49They're like pancakes. DK, what's the joke? Can't be all exciting at first, but then by the end you're fucking sick of him.
56:55Yeah. Fucking sick. Everyone's fucking sick of him. Everyone's had Mark Andrews.
56:58Everyone's ridden this ride. We're done. I kind of increasingly wonder if we'll be like, heat Mark Andrews is easily the best value at tight end this year.
57:06I'm telling you, if Lamar can throw for like 28, 32 touchdowns, who's catching them if not Mark Andrews?
57:11Because like if you look at the Ravens receiving core, it's Zay Flowers who, again, doesn't really get end zone targets.
57:17No. Rashad Bateman, who might be suspended for an incident that happened with him in June.
57:21Right. And he's not like been a great receiver.
57:24And then they have two, you know, Jacoby Lane who's having a great receiver.
57:28He's like a trick shot player right now. He doesn't deal with physicality necessarily that well.
57:32He's a really cool player. He's the dude perfect of the Ravens.
57:35Yes, he is. Yeah. And then Elijah Surratt who's having a terrible rookie like training camp.
57:40And then Isaiah Likely's gone. And that's the thing.
57:42So Mark Andrews is the cheapest he's ever been in fantasy really in seven years, even though Isaiah Likely's gone.
57:48And guess what? The part that we have not talked about at all, the Ravens gave Mark Andrews like a $40 million contract extension in December.
57:55So I feel like so much of Mark Andrews' price, and again, even a year ago he was a top 80 player.
58:01Now he's like 120th and probably going to go below that.
58:04Ain't nobody thinking about Mark Andrews this year. The Seahawks and Texans defenses might be taken before Mark Andrews.
58:09Complimentary. But again, the premise is that Mark Andrews has lost a step.
58:13Yes. And in reality, the Ravens looked at their three free Asian tight ends, Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, and Charlie Kolar, and
58:19they paid Mark Andrews, who was the oldest of them, to stay, which the Ravens, as a policy, don't do with players they think are declining.
58:26Like Dallas Goddard, Jake Ferguson, and Dalton Kincaid are all going ahead of Mark Andrews.
58:30That makes no sense to me. It would be surprising if Jake Ferguson led the Cowboys in touchdowns.
58:35It would be astonishing if that happened. Yeah, I think it's expected when you look at Baltimore that Mark Andrews should lead the Ravens in touchdowns.
58:42I bet you if you looked at the odds, he's favored.
58:46And that's the thing. And so I look at the Ravens, and I'm like, well, Lamar was healthy.
58:50Lamar was hurt last year. But the year before that, Mark Andrews also had a down year.
58:55He had a hip surgery he was recovering from.
58:58Then he got in a car crash, and he almost died, like, two weeks before the season.
59:02And the Ravens kind of, like, downplayed it. And we had no idea how serious the car accident was.
59:08And it's just been a couple years. But the fact that the Ravens paid him so much money, frankly, I don't know.
59:14It's like we can't do as much due diligence as the team.
59:17Like, they could have let this 30-year-old tight end walk.
59:20Instead, he's the only tight end on the goddamn team.
59:23But he's 40 picks later than he was last year.
59:25How old is Mark Andrews? I think he's 30.
59:28Yeah, 31. He's 30? In his prime. Well, he's about to turn 31.
59:31You're right. No, no. I like him, so he's 30.
59:34Yeah, he's 30. But he turns 31 September 6, which doesn't matter, though, because I'm making the case for him.
59:40So he's only 30 years old. We're making the case now.
59:4330 years and 51 weeks young. Right. Anyway, I just, I think he's the, I don't know.
59:47I like him. Yeah, I think he's a perfect example of why not.
59:51Yep. It's so cheap anyway. It doesn't matter. Again, when you look at the players ahead of him, it's, again, I think
59:57George Kittle's having a good Achilles recovery. But Achilles, Harold Fannin and the Browns, probably going to suck.
60:02Tucker Kraft off an ACL. Kyle Pitts and the Falcons might suck.
60:05Depending on the Colts, Trey McBride and the Cardinals.
60:08The Cardinals might be terrible. Like, I love Brock Bowers, but the Raiders might be bad.
60:12Like, Mark Andrews and the Ravens might have the best record in the NFL two months into the season.
60:17And the key, usually, with breakout tight ends, often it doesn't come.
60:21I mean, he wouldn't be real breakout because he's obviously been very good in the past.
60:25But usually, tight ends that do well in a fantasy season are on good offense.
60:29Yeah. Very good offense, usually. And they're, like, the number one or number two option.
60:33Mark Andrews weirdly checks both of those boxes. And also, he's good.
60:37It's just been a mess. So, with that said.
60:39He just can't catch it sometimes. He can catch it, but not always.
60:43There you go. Most of the time. That's the analysis right there.
60:46He can catch it. He can. Sometimes. Yeah. Not always.
60:49I can catch it. Right. I can't always catch it.
60:52Right. Fuck, marry, kill with the players you suggested today.
60:54Oh, jeez. Are we going to make this a tradition?
60:57It's kind of fun. I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking about it.
61:00All right. So, James Cook, Kyron Williams, Brock Purdy.
61:03For boring players that would win your league. James Cook, Kyron Williams, Brock Purdy.
61:07I would probably marry James Cook. Fuck Kyron Williams, and I guess I'd kill Purdy.
61:11Wow. I was sure you were going to marry Purdy.
61:14After all that fucking talk about how he's not ugly.
61:16You're not going to fuck Purdy? I don't know.
61:19I think James Cook legitimately could be the number one running back in fantasy.
61:23Yeah. And I think Kyron is like criminally underrated every year.
61:26DK, fuck, marry, kill with your picks? Ooh. I mean, look.
61:29I'm going to fuck Nico. I'm going to marry Javante.
61:32And I'm going to kill Garrett Wilson. I'm sorry.
61:34I got to tell you. You know what you didn't talk about Nico Collins?
61:38It's a great name. Nico Collins. It's not boring.
61:40Nico's an incredible name. Yeah. Nico's a good name.
61:43Can you give us a Stroud? He was so bad.
61:46We haven't even gotten a Stroud from you. Stroud.
61:48In the pocket. Look at him. Moving left. Look at him.
61:51Got him. Nico Collins. Got him. Touchdown Houston. That's good.
61:54I missed that. All right. I'm killing Terry McLaurin.
61:56I'm going to... Is Terry a good name? Like Nico?
61:59Terry. Any name works with fucking Gus Johnson. What about Garrett Wilson?
62:03Garrett Wilson. Oh, man. That's not the best. Yeah.
62:05Maybe not. It's a Stroud. Gare Bear. I don't know.
62:08So wait, what are you doing? You have Terry.
62:10You have... I'm killing Terry. I'm going to... Gare Bear.
62:13I'm going to fuck Mark Andrews and marry HN.
62:15Really? No, I'm going to marry Andrews and fuck HN.
62:18Oh, interesting. What? I kind of liked the fuck Mark Andrews and marry HN.
62:22Okay, I'm marrying HN and fucking Mark Andrews. I think that's right.
62:25I liked it the first time. I just reacted to him saying that.
62:29No, I liked it the way I said it.
62:31I bullied him out of it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
62:34Okay. All right. DK, have you seen the news?
62:36I don't know. Have you seen the good news?
62:39Have you heard the good word? Right now, it's 78 degrees and sunny in Cleveland.
62:43Is that right? What are your thoughts? Well, I did say...
62:46How will you respond? In my defense, I said it's probably nice there in the summer.
62:51Wait, hold on. All right. Hold on. Let's look up the weather in Siberia, which you said we'd prefer.
62:56It's probably really hot there. The weather in Siberia right now...
62:59Siberia is a big place. It's currently 44 degrees Fahrenheit.
63:02Well, find another place in Siberia where it's hot.
63:04Find a new slant. Yeah. Oh, find a hot...
63:07Where is Siberia really? Find a hot spot in Siberia.
63:09So where in Russia is Siberia? It's like toward the east.
63:12It does say clear skies. Siberia. 44 degrees, clear skies.
63:15There we go. I'm looking at Google images. Siberia looks...
63:18It's not what I thought it would look like at all.
63:21I'm going to go out on a limb here.
63:23It's really pretty, actually. I mean, that looks like Cleveland, looky.
63:26Siberia kind of looks incredible. Look at Siberia. Cleveland or Siberia.
63:29Wait, we have to put... Can we play this?
63:32Cleveland or Siberia. We're going to do this fucking game.
63:35Cleveland or Siberia. This is like that geolocation game.
63:37Yeah, yeah, yeah. Looking at road signs. We did get an email from people in Cleveland.
63:42I thought you were going to get screamed at, and someone was like, Yeah, I moved to Cleveland.
63:47Dike is right. I was like, oh my God.
63:49Look, I said Cleveland is probably really lovely in the summer.
63:52The other thing I want to bring up before we go is the NFL is getting rid of the Pro Bowl.
63:58I love it. And I love the fact that Shador Sanders is like the last Pro Bowl quarterback to play in a Pro Bowl.
64:04You know what? That is correct. That should push us over the edge.
64:08Shador, it actually feels like for the once in their life...
64:11The NFL is like, you can't keep talking. The NFL exec's like, all right.
64:15That was the line. They're making fun of us now.
64:18Pro Bowl quarterback Tyler Huntley. They're making fun of us.
64:20Tough week for Shador to lose the job to Deshaun Watson after he said, basically, tell the fans to fuck themselves.
64:26And then also they ended the Pro Bowl because you made it.
64:30The Ringer Fantasy Football Show is brought to you by FanDuel.
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64:55I don't really understand that because the Broncos made the AFC Championship game last year, should have won, but Bo Nix got
65:01injured, and then kept the entire team, and now they're 20-1.
65:04That doesn't really make any sense to me because the Broncos probably are going to have the second best defense in the AFC.
65:10See, I just, how do the Broncos have the same Super Bowl odds as the Packers?
65:15That doesn't make any sense. Like, the Packers would be really weird if they made the Super Bowl, or at least surprising.
65:21The Broncos, it would be super normal. So the Broncos are 20-1.
65:24It just feels mispriced. So get your football future bets in today on FanDuel.
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65:37This episode is brought to you by Nordstrom. For 125 years, Nordstrom has been part of your story.
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66:00One other thing I want to mention. I had one email I wanted to read to you guys, which was from Jack.
66:06Jack! So on the last episode, we were arguing about the fuck, marry, kill for morning, afternoon, night, evening, whatever.
66:11And anyway, we were arguing about this. And Jack said the subject line was just, we need on the next fantasy court
66:17intro where you're like, the definition of an object.
66:20It's a material thing that can be seen and touched.
66:22And Jack wants to add to the Fates of Court intro, Craig saying, night to me is when it's dark.
66:28Oh my God. We hit some really hard-hitting stuff on this show.
66:31Night to me is when it's dark. We do need to add that to the...
66:35There's an Instagram account guy who just explains things using like baby talk.
66:39Like, fire hot. Don't touch. Craig says, night dark.
66:41Son bye-bye. Son bye-bye. Woman unze. Son bye-bye. Okay.
66:44The other... I'm going to skip these other emails I had because right before we started recording, you started telling a story.
66:50Sorry about when you... You don't want to do it?
66:53No, no. We totally can't. I thought you knew this.
66:56I thought we talked about it. I didn't register.
66:58It wouldn't be the last time or first time that we had the same conversation.
67:02You do The Town with Matt Bellany. You produced that show.
67:05And you went with Matt Bellany to interview James Cameron before the latest Avatar came out, Fire and Ash.
67:10And you... Good for you. Yeah, thanks for knowing the subtitle.
67:13I crushed those ad reads for this. Everyone listening knows I crushed.
67:17Those are my finest work with the Avatar, Fire and Ash ad reads.
67:20And you not only did this interview with James Cameron at his house, but then you watched Avatar...
67:25Not at his house. At his office. Oh, his office.
67:28Lightstorm. And you said right before we started recording that you watched Avatar with James Cameron in the front row of a theater, of an empty theater.
67:36A couple corrections. Okay. Okay. We interviewed James Cameron, but he wanted us to have seen Avatar.
67:40So the day before the interview, we went to Lightstorm, which is his office in Manhattan Beach.
67:45He has his own private theater in there. It's like a whole giant living theater.
67:49He was not there. He told us to watch the movie.
67:52Okay. But... Oh, he wasn't there? He didn't watch the movie with us.
67:56Oh. We interviewed him the next day. But we...
67:58Devastating. The person who was there, who was his producer or whatever, was like, oh, Jim only watches movies front row, dead middle.
68:05So you have to watch it. Somewhere, Austin Gale is just like fist-pumped.
68:08He's vibrating right now. He is on a new level.
68:11So they were like, you need to watch it like he prefers.
68:14So Matt and I sat literally front row, dead middle, sitting back, looking up at Avatar.
68:19We wore the three glasses. And you could have just sat further back.
68:22Totally. There's nobody in the theater. Can I ask you a question?
68:25Have you considered for even one moment that that guy was just fucking with you?
68:30Oh, I like that. No, because we corroborated that.
68:32We talked to him about it, James Cameron. What did he actually...
68:35Why does he do that? He thinks it's like the most enveloping experience.
68:39It allows you to, like, feel the movie the most.
68:42Meanwhile, the Odyssey IMAX, even in Los Angeles, the front row in every IMAX screening is literally empty because it's like a seizure warning.
68:48Austin's just texting. Yes. He just said, enveloping. I say that.
68:51Yeah. I mean, it was obviously a very cool experience, but I still...
68:55The front row is brutal. I can't do that.
68:57No. That's too much. I did enjoy watching Avatar that way.
69:01That was cool. You get, like, a chair that maybe reclines.
69:04Now we're talking a little different. Ours reclined. But, like, a lot?
69:07Yeah. It was, like, one of those, like, nicer, you know...
69:10So it's better than nothing. The legs kick out.
69:12It's better than just, like, a regular seat. Yeah.
69:15Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah. Big gym. Front row. Dead front row, dead middle.
69:18In an empty theater, that's fucking nuts. That's actually a crazy thing to do.
69:22And I can't believe you guys just sat there for three hours and weren't like, why don't we move?
69:28Yeah. And then we interviewed him in the theater.
69:30It was the same theater that he just... We didn't, like, do it in an office.
69:34Did you sit in the front row? No. Not at the interview.
69:38There was, like, some tables that we had to use.
69:41What's your favorite James Cameron movie? Honestly, I thought the second Avatar was awesome.
69:44I like all the Avatars. I don't know. Do you want me to rattle...
69:48I'm going to... Should I rattle off a few of them?
69:51I'm going to say Terminator 2 or... Oh, yeah.
69:54I forgot about this. It's kind of lame, but, like, Titanic is fucking good.
69:58All right? Titanic is really fucking good. Oh, my God.
70:00If you, like... Nobody wants to watch Titanic. That was good.
70:03If you sit down and put on Titanic, that's a good fucking movie.
70:07That's going in the fantasy cartoon show, too. Titanic is fucking good.
70:10Titanic is a really good movie. Nobody wants to...
70:13I feel like it's not cool. Titanic is funny because it probably is, but when I was...
70:18Have you never seen it? No, I've seen it.
70:20It's probably, like, technically a great movie or whatever, but when I was growing up, like, when it came out, it was 97.
70:26It's, like, so sad. It's long. It's, like, all the girls in my class went and saw it, like, eight times.
70:32Yeah. Because Leo... Yeah. The great part of Titanic, too, is that no matter how many times you watch it, I always
70:38forget that we're coming back to that woman at the end.
70:41I know. I always... That always is, like, a shock to me.
70:45Yeah. That it sinks? No! You fucking know! You come back and she throws the line.
70:49I always forget that that's happening. Hyphens is like, fuck, it sinks?
70:52I'm like, what happens? Holy shit. I'm gonna rattle off some of his movies real quick.
70:57The Terminator Rambo First Blood Part 2. Mm-hmm. He didn't do the first part of First Blood?
71:01No. Okay. Well... Aliens, The Abyss, which I think is an underrated movie.
71:05Well, he did Aliens, which is the sequel to Alien.
71:08Right. The Scott movie. He did the sequel. Okay.
71:10Terminator 2, Judgment Day, Point Break, True Lies, Strange Days, Titanic...
71:13He didn't direct Point Break. Oh, sorry. I was about to comment on that.
71:17I was shocked. Yeah, yeah, yeah. His wife. Yeah.
71:20My bad. My bad. Because she did The Hurt Locker the same year that he did Avatar.
71:24Sorry, and he didn't direct Rambo First Blood Part 2 either.
71:27What? He didn't direct Rambo First Blood Part 2 either.
71:30He is a writer. I'm glad you said that because I was very quiet and I was like, James Cameron did Rambo?
71:36I know, I've never seen Rambo Part 2. I'm like really...
71:39You're out of your depth here. I'm not doing well.
71:42You're just like... It's just like written by me.
71:44I can't read at the table. You don't have your reading glasses on?
71:48Every movie you're naming is wrong. I'm sorry. Point Break.
71:51He didn't... I didn't see the giant red box that said no for directing.
71:55Wait, should we break that out as he's reading a list but everything's wrong?
71:58James Cameron, did you... Did not direct Strange Days either, for the record.
72:02Did you get any of these right other than Titanic?
72:05Some of them. Yeah. I can catch the ball, just not all the time.
72:09Sure, not all the time. True Lies, he directed True Lies with Schwarzenegger.
72:12Oh, that's a good one. He did Terminator, Dawn of Fate.
72:15No, wait, no, that's a video game. What's the Paxton line from True Lies that's so good?
72:20Oh, he's so good. That's his best role. It's like when he pisses his pants.
72:24I just love that he gets just reading everything on the screen like Ron Burgundy.
72:28Look, I googled filmography and I thought it would be his filmography, right?
72:32He was a writer. Give me a break. God, there was a really fucking famous line.
72:36Who are the other... Oh, she could suck start a leaf blower.
72:40She could suck start a leaf blower. Man, that's good.
72:42Oh my God. Big Jim. Okay. That's like a 10-year-old boy?
72:45Oh, yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Paxton's cooking in that movie.
72:48Yeah, he really was. He's cooking. Did we want to talk about the butt wiping thing or you wanted to get out of here?
72:54No, we've already done that on the show. I feel like we don't need to gross people out.
72:59No, yeah, you're right. Okay. All right. Thank you, DK.
73:02Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Austin. Thank you, Cam.
73:05Thank you, Nikhil. Thank you, CT. Thank you... I don't...
73:07Who else is in there? We can't hear them.
73:10Oh, yeah, fuck. They're screaming. We can't hear them.
73:12Yeah, no, no. Thank you, everybody, helping us today.
73:15Thank you to everyone who's going to watch the Ringer Fantasy Football live draft on Netflix on Friday, August 28th at 11 a.m.
73:21Pacific, 2 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Central, noon, Mountain.
73:24Yeah, I have the fifth pick. You have dead last and you have 10.
73:28You fucked me. You clipped my ball. We all drove...
73:30We didn't know whose balls we were hitting. Pause.
73:33Right, thank you. Yeah. We... They were anonymous balls.
73:35Is that based on unk or is it uncool?
73:38It's a good question. It's like dog paws. Yeah, yeah.
73:41Who knows? The balls were anonymous. We didn't know the balls.
73:44There's been some internal pushback. Right. Let's just say that.
73:46People didn't like our method. People fucking hate us.
73:49Pick it out of a hat. We did that last year.
73:52People fucking hate us in this league. If those who don't know, if you're not going to tune into this draft, I
73:58can't tell you how much the people in this league, Bill, Sal, Mal, Sean, Chris, Van...
74:02Chris doesn't hate us. No. We got the first pick.
74:05Everyone fucking hates us. I fucking piped one for my boy CR.
74:08Everyone fucking hates us. They hate the way we run it.
74:11Every text I send... Mind you that these people are directly or indirectly in charge of us.
74:16Just fucking hate... I think they hate me the most.
74:19And every text I send, people fucking hate me.
74:21It's no response, no response, no response. And then we send an update and everyone's like, This is an abomination.
74:27Fuck you! You're an idiot! You know what sucks?
74:29It's like... We are genuinely trying to just make it fun.
74:32We are genuinely trying. And every time you're like, this sucks.
74:35This is what it's like to be a parent.
74:38No, it's a commissioner thing. All the hate that the commissioner gets.
74:41We were like, oh, picking out of a hat's boring.
74:44We did that last year. How can we make it more fun and put something on social?
74:49And Van was like, what the fuck? It's like...
74:51Anyway, Craig piped one for CR. I literally... Piped one for CR.
74:55Dude, I don't golf. You guys know this. Like, I've golfed probably twice in the last 15, 20 years.
75:00Yeah, but that swing looks good. And I... Thank you, by the way.
75:03And we were practicing ahead of time. You know, everything.
75:06Like, getting some hacks in. I never missed one ball until Heifetz came up.
75:10I swear to God. It's like my body knew.
75:12I do think your body subconsciously knew that it was my ball.
75:16And you're like, I'm going to give him the last ball.
75:19Something changed about the vibe of that ball. Yeah.
75:21And I topped it, and it went one yard.
75:24And Heifetz now has the 12th pick. But that's not bad, actually.
75:27Honestly, if I'm not getting a top two pick, I don't mind the 12th pick.
75:31I hit my own ball, and I got 10th.
75:34Right. And I had all the low ball. I didn't do well.
75:37I didn't do well. Yeah. We needed to make it feel...
75:40Or we needed to make it random. Right. You know?
75:43So anyway, everyone hates us. But it's fine. Everybody hates us.
75:46Okay. The draft will be fun. It's going to be great.
75:49Oh, sorry. Thank you, Lord! Lord! Millennial Bangers, only a few left.
75:52I Gotta Do It. This song is hilarious. Remember the name by Fort Minor.
75:56Oh my God, Craig. My God, I've never... Fort Minor?
75:59I've never loved you more. I've never... You should remember their name.
76:02DK, this is like... This is... That was fucked up.
76:05You still got it. You still got your fucking fastball.
76:08Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. Fort Minor... Dude, honestly, there are very few songs that when you start...
76:1110% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain, and 100% reason to remember the name.
76:17Oh. Terrible song. So wait, you... But also kind of great.
76:20But also kind of great. Elite NBA playoff commercial song?
76:23Like warm-up music? Yeah. Before middle school basketball games?
76:25Yeah, this is... It's like high school basketball warm-up, but parentheses, like, cheesy.
76:29No, it's perfect. Tongue in cheek. It's not as good as, like, till I collapse.
76:33But you would play it right before till I collapse.
76:36It's JV football, boss, warm-up, lock... Dude, it's... Fort Minor, like, um...
76:39Was it like a religious group? Was it like religious rap?
76:42What? Or no? I can't tell you. They're like the number...
76:45If I could draft one-hit wonders of our, like, growing up, they'd be my first pick.
76:50So it was a side project by one of the guys from Linkin Park.
76:53Oh. No shit. Oh, no wonder it was good.
76:56No wonder it was good. Are you serious? That makes sense.
76:59Why it was so fucking good, and then I never heard about them again.
77:03It's Mike... Oh, Mike Shinoda. That makes so much more sense.
77:06Whoa, didn't know that. You know who I was thinking of?
77:09You know who I was thinking of? Oh, because that's why they yelled Mike Shinoda.
77:13I just thought he was, like, their friend. Do you remember the band?
77:17Remember P.O.D.? Yeah. When he sang that song, Boom?
77:19Here comes the boom! Yeah. I think it's Ping Pong in the music video.
77:23I think they're a religious rap. Oh, P.O.D. That's also, like, an elite Madden song.
77:27Boom? Yeah. Here comes the boom. That's, like, Longest Yard had that.
77:30Yeah, American Christian New Metal. Remember the name is, like, anybody in our age range, if you play the first two seconds
77:36of that song, they're like, of course. I... Of course.
77:39What's the best... Not tongue-in-cheek, but real warm-up song?
77:42It's Till I Collapse. And then... I think Remember the Name.
77:45Maybe... I mean, I'm just a corny guy, but, like...
77:48It's a good one. Um, I also think Can't Be Touched by Roy Jones.
77:51Maybe a little bit more under the radar? Can't Be Touched.
77:54Banger. Banger warm-up song. You know what? The fight...
77:57Warm-up bangers. The Fight Night... Can't Be Touched, Can't Be Rocked, Can't Be Shook.
78:01Oh. I don't really know that one. You actually got closer than I thought you could on that voice.
78:06Now I do know that song, but... We hot.
78:08Yeah. When will you make us learn? That song's good.
78:11Goodbye, everyone. Must be 21 plus and present in select states.
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78:19Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Or 1-800-MY-RESET. Call 1-888-789-7777. Or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut.
78:23Or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelpline.
78:26M-A dot org. Or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts.
78:29Or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY. Or text hope and why in New York.
78:32For Louisiana, call 1-877-770-7867. I see you. Avatar Fire and Ash is now streaming on Disney+.
78:37It's the film critics are calling the best Avatar yet.
78:39Go, go, go, go! A true epic and completely jaw-dropping.
78:42This is the only purest thing in this world.
78:45Return to Pandora on Disney+. It will be an adventure for the whole family.
78:48And watch the Oscar-winning phenomenon at home. This is sick!
78:51Avatar Fire and Ash. Now streaming on Disney+. Rated PG-13.