Welcome to the Fantasy Football podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike, right. Now, welcome in. Tuesday, April 6th. Still well within the April Fool's window, well within. So who knows what can transpire on today's show? Congratulations to Volkswagen and Michael Strahan here. Michael Strahan for breaking it reveals even more that it was already broken. They're breaking down the barriers yet to to allow any time to be a great time to fool someone with a funny gag.

It is so that so well, thank you. From what I understand, Mike, both of those jokes were actually from the 20 20 April Fools.

Oh, that's within that window. Hey, lying season.

The lying season upon us, April lying day. Yeah. I face no consequences for any lies I tell because they're just goofs.

This really is lying season that we're entering the we are draft season where smoke screens and here's what I'm doing. And you have rights galore. So but we do have more information. Yeah. Rights galore. Yeah. Rights galore. I love my eloquence there.

You began a sentence with galore, which is the first time that's ever happened. Like it begun. You began a new. No, no, no. That was. Yeah. Rights galore. Like that was the finish. That was the exclamation point.

Well, I'm in a good mood, not just because we have a rookie preview show today and Thursday. Today's quarterbacks and running backs Thursday will do wide receivers, tight ends. But I'm really excited because I'm getting space internet cool, man. I just found out that I'm getting space Internet for our our family cabin up north and space Internet is super important.

What a time to be alive, because we when we grew up, we didn't know we could get space internet. No, we couldn't get Internet. Yeah, that was a dumb word. We began with dial up. That is correct. And then I began by choosing a long distance phone number on my AOL on accident. I chose Alabama instead of Arizona.

And then the Internet cost my family a lot of money.

That month was the phone bill. Two thousand dollars. And now it's coming from space with with space, space and crazy. All right.

We have some breaking news we want to talk about right at the top before we get into the rookie breakdowns. And thank you so much for joining us. At the followers on Twitter, by the way, Instagram, dot com slash fantasy football. Breaking news right before the show recording today. So polite.

Yeah, we we put out a press release to most of the teams and we said, look, here's when we record it, we give them one of those window, like a like a serviceman window where we record between one and four on an average day.

Make all your news somewhere before we record. It's been very rude a lot for these teams to drop news after we have recorded. Yeah, but you know, the Jets, Carolina, very considerate. Sam Darnel being traded by the New York Jets to the Carolina Panthers for a twenty twenty one sixth round pick and second and fourth round picks in twenty twenty two.

Now, when this news came out, both of you two gentlemen were surprised at the hall. You thought that this was a really good deal for the Jets. You were surprised they got this much. It's basically a a two four six deal and they got a second, a fourth and a sixth. I think this is not over compensating. Like, I don't I don't think this is too much capital to give up to try to get your quarterback. If you believe that Sam Donaldson, a guy which obviously Carolina I don't I don't believe that they're doing this because they have, you know, odds of like I think there's a chance.

My belief is that the Carolina Panthers believe in Sam Donaldson. They targeted him. Well, I think it is good for both sides, let's put it that way. You know, Carolina, if they didn't believe that they were going to get a quarterback, they liked to date and they need to move forward without Teddy Bridgewater to make the next step. They're they're simply saying, Sam Donald today is better than Matt Jones or Trey Lance or Justin Fields or Teddy Bridgewater or teddy bears.

Yeah, but, you know, when I say that they got a nice haul, I mean, Arizona didn't get a two for six for Josh Rosen after the the one year wonder. So believing in Sam Donald enough to pay this much, it was it makes him the starter. It was an expiring asset. It wasn't a secret that the Jets were going to take a quarterback. Good point. Maybe maybe it's a smokescreen. That is Zach Wilson. But that doesn't matter because there's a quarterback at two and every team already knows that.

So they know that Sam Donald is now the backup and he's available. So that's good work by the Jets to get, uh, get the two four, six, eight. Who do we appreciate? Yeah, well, they didn't get the eight. It's not an appreciation deal. Mike, I'm sorry. Uh, Sam Arnold's fifth year option was exercised.

Appreciate it. While Sam Darnell managers appreciate it because he was just brought to life again in dynasty leagues, whether he's relevant for fantasy this year, look, higher odds if a team goes out, pursues you, you don't have Adam Gase.

You do have more on Robby Anderson and Christian McCaffrey.

So we will be back in the same boat again with Carolina of a variable in place like we were last year where OK, new quarterback. And I don't know, I'm kind of intrigued. I'm excited. There's more unknown upside to Sam Darnell and maybe downside than there was to Teddy Bridgewater, which means higher ceiling potential for some of these players that sure, you kind of knew what Teddy Bridgewater was going to bring to the table, right?

Yeah. Yeah, you did. And it wasn't enough. Sam. Donald still has the potential. He's he came into the league super young. He's twenty three years old. And he is now coming along a long list of players who have had incredible success after Gates has been removed from their life. And so getting free of Adam Gase, getting these weapons, getting, you know, a team that is now committing to you with resources, boosting your confidence, might get rid of a few ghosts out there.

I think that this is a good situation for Sam Donald.

I'm surprised the Jets didn't want Teddy Bridgewater back in the deal just to be a support for whatever rookie quarter, you know, if it's Zach Wilson coming in.

But we have another, you know, another quarterback trade this off season that makes things pretty interesting. And it and it locks the Jets into a rookie quarterback, as we know. And we all expect that to be Zach Wilson, a number two.

And obviously, it takes the Panthers Panthers out of that market in pants. Thanks.

The fans right out of the mark takes the pants right off the market, which this last weekend in Arizona did that they were right out. We had to dress up for Easter and it was like, can I strip on the way to the car going back from church? Yeah. How quick when I get home can these why did I not wear my rip off jeans? That was the only question I had is why don't these jeans Velcro on the side.

So pants free zone you were saying. But, you know, it's it's bad news for your treh Lantz's or the you know, this takes another team out of the market. But if you are a fan of, you know, the Patriots, you know, someone drafting in the middle where you don't play well, the Falcons. Right.

Falcons could grab a quarterback, certainly, but they already could because they're four, you know. So but like one of those Denver Democrats. Exactly. I'd be super excited if I was a Broncos fan.

Yeah. And that would potentially transform a lot of fantasy value. And that's why I realized something. I was really stupid.

Yeah, that one out there that one time, you know, but on the last show we were talking about, um, overreactions. Right. And so if you ever heard the overreaction episode, I encourage you go back. Listen, we each brought up two kinds of overreactions that could happen. But the more I thought about it, I was like. I don't know. There's a lot that can happen in this draft, and if a couple of big weapons go to Philadelphia, I'm not going to feel the same way I did about Jalen hurts being outside that top eight, the way I feel right now in the quote unquote, Greg Ward zone.

Sure. And there they're sitting very pretty for they have a wide receiver. They've got if they want great picks. Yeah, they're at the six know they traded. Oh they did the 12. But they have what do they have three picks in the first two rounds. I can't recall that. Take a look at their draft order for me anyway. I think that, you know, there's a decent chance a good player gets there and maybe maybe that changes the outlook.

I don't know.

All right. Any other big time news, Brooks, that just broke from any inconsiderate teams now?

Nothing right now. OK, good job, NFL. A reminder, check out the ultimate draft carried ultimate traffic.com.

We have a lot going up on the dynasty pass. Yeah. So if you've got the UDCA plus brand new mock draft that we just completed is going up. We took a look and redid the rookie rankings. So the whole dynasty pass has been updated and it's pants again, got pants on the mind. Apparently the whole dynasty pants put them on.

Yeah, I'm thinking about bills. If you get the ultimate draft, get plus you get the dynasty pants and those are the best pants you'll ever put on. Oh my gosh. For putting the dynasty pants on today.

I know that sometimes you just never know what's going to happen. The same, I guess, what we call a post on. So what you have today, I might have been totally OK.

Crush your pants causing you an issue. I answer a little tight. I'm all right. It's rookie time.

Hey, rookie, welcome to the NFL. Oh, we're not letting the dynasty pants die, these things. Well, a few times a week we put on the dynasty pants and here we are.

Here we are. All right, quarterbacks. Running backs, this is our rookie overview show now we're doing this little earlier than we have done in years past. The anticipation just too strong. Got to put on the dynasty pants and start at the quarterback position. Starting with Trevor Lawrence, it would be. I hear he's good. Yeah, I would say it would be a shock heard around the world if Trevor Lawrence somehow didn't go number one. So we know where he's going.

This is an advantage, right, in breaking down a player's future potential. Everybody knows who Trevor Lawrence is, number one recruit coming out of high school and delivered on all the promise. Right. Coming into the league. And this was tanking for Trevor two years ago for Miami. This is a player that is built like an NFL quarterback above average.

Six to twenty. Yeah. Whoof, great athleticism.

Great arm strength. Yes. Can make all the throws a mature quarterback, like of all the quarterbacks coming out, he's one that I think has displayed the most pro traits, most the most consistently. And he's got above average, you know, escape ability. I think one thing that was really interesting when looking at Trevor Lawrence and I'll get your reaction to it is that he had the highest percentage of attempts in the run, like the run pass options and in screen passes, which is one of those things that, you know, you can't blame a quarterback for what offense they're in in college.

They have to just execute that offense. They have lost a few weapons.

I mean, you had lost Higgins the year before and then they had some this their offense this year was more of a this is what we have to do. And Trevor Lawrence still succeeded right. In that offense.

So I don't look at that as a point against Trevor Lawrence, his entire profile.

When you watch his games, it's not Dwayne Haskins like he he had to modify this year, but he still can. He still goes down the field. Yeah. One of the things that puts Trevor Lawrence at everybody's number one spot is longevity. You don't have the single season. Like if I take Joe Burrow's final season and I put that against Trevor Lawrence's final season, Joe Burrow was better to me. I like I like the tape. I don't think Trevor Lawrence is a perfect prospect, you know, but nobody is is 100 percent perfect.

What you like about Trevor Lawrence is that, as Andy alluded to, he came in as the number one recruit from high school and then he he improved every year. So you have so much tape as we're going to talk through these other quarterbacks. Not everybody has this long track record of success where he's dealt with the being the guy, he's dealt with the hype, he's dealt with the media, he's overcome everything. He's done everything you wanted to see in college.

So he's pretty much everyone's number one pick. And and specifically on this show we're talking about for fantasy. And while he isn't going to be the most prolific rusher, he is mobile. He will add yards on the ground. I see him as a comp to a Justin Herbert or an Aaron Rodgers. That's kind of where I've got him.

And I think he'll be great for fantasy, because when you have that capital in that hype, you guarantee he's got like if he sucks, if he comes in and flames out, you still have four years of being an NFL starter and producing something for fantasy. And he's not going to suck.

So in rookie draft, because we're going through these guys based off of our our fantasy rookie rankings currently before we know landing places. Are you right now very confident that Jason, he would be the first quarterback you would take in a rookie pick, even though, like guys like Justin Fields and in Lance, who they have massive rushing upside, especially trade, Lance, you would still feel more comfortable going with? I would feels like the safer pick. Yes, because of the because of the safety.

Because I do think Trevor Lawrence is probably a ten year starter and is just a you know, he really is. We've heard it over and over and over the best prospect since Andrew Luck. But he he is he's one of those rare guys that was touted super young and has come through every stage along the way. Yeah.

In his size, physicality, the ability to run the football and give you a baseline every game like Andrew Luck is a good comp for him, too. And I guess the question then for for fantasy players, because I think we're entering a new era right. Where you can be a rookie quarterback and make a fantasy impact. Justin Herbert did a last year. Jubera did it at times last year. We saw Baker Mayfield do it at times in early season.

Cuyler did it. This is no longer you're not hamstrung because a lot of the offenses in the NFL now are innovating.

And he goes to Jacksonville. But you don't go to the same Doug Marone offense, right? You have right. You have a renovated scheme. You have some weapons that I think we all like there. Yeah. Lévesque National, Chaak, James Robinson, Marvin and Marvin Jones now. So how long before Lawrence threatens as a fantasy, um, contributor? Is it is it a year one expectation for you because he comes out with the capital? Or is this something that you are you're looking two or three years down the line?

I think he's a year one streamer. That's that's how I view him. I don't think he's going to be a locked and loaded Justin Herbert. You've got to start him every week once he catches fire in the rookie year. But I think he's going to have a ton of pretty much more. What you saw from Joe Burrow, Joe Burrow had some big games and he had some bad games.

But an interesting player to look at in that situation because of how bad Cincinnati was. So, you know, tough division for him to go into, tough team to turn around, could be playing from behind a lot. That could translate from, you know, you could have a mediocre NFL season and a very good fantasy season if he has enough opportunities.

Mike, how do you see it? I see I'm not Jason that he I mean, these are are our dynasty rankings.

And it's I think he's the the first dynasty quarterback I would take in a in a rookie pick or in a rookie draft, but in a redraft I would be taking fields or I would be taking freelance, assuming that freelance ends up as a top ten pick, because I think that they can only within a short starting. Yeah, yeah, of course. But I'm and I, I'm projecting, like, just Ifill's. I'm projecting still at number three to San Francisco.

So these guys and knowing that they're the starters, the people, the quarterbacks that run more in redraft, I'm more interested in them because I think they make a bigger impact right away. Yeah, I side with the Lawrence side and like, you know, Fields, we'll talk about them now, but. If he goes to number three, you may not see the field this year. I think if he goes number three, Jimmy Garoppolo will not be on the team.

I know they're saying that they got permission from the ownership to draft quarterback number three and retain Jimmy Garoppolo play Jimmy Garoppolo this year. Other reports are coming out saying that they're already dropping him, but their price is a first round pick. I don't think they're going to get a first is right Rapallo which is more than they paid to get Garoppolo. That would be quite the flu.

Well I guess you'd hope that if they made that kind of a move they would believe that they could start that player that they drafted three. Exactly. But if they drafted a you know, rumors abound. Right. But if they drafted a Trillanes, that player might not be ready for one. So you agreed with that could be in a different situation. All right. We're going to talk about Justin Fields next. So we'll get to expand on our thoughts there.

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Yeah, that's a great question. Voice of public opinion, and they like Zach will say, like Jack Wilson because of one throw he made in his product.

No, I mean, there's a lot to like about these players. I'll be honest with you. I really like Justin Field. I like just the field. I feel like it's unanimous.

Yeah. And I feel like we've gone through, like, what you're saying with the consensus out there in the mock drafts. We've gone through this period of self-doubt where like, you know, look, it's our job to go watch the film, analyze the destination, put it together for fantasy even more than NFL. Right. But but I feel like we've done that for a while. And you get a read on a certain player. And I think Justin feel Justin Fields has the second highest floor, OK, the second highest floor of all the quarterbacks.

I agree with that. That's not to say I don't believe the Zach Wilson ceiling is actually higher than Justin Fields right now. I believe that to be the case. I think Zach Wilson has a higher high.

He has the Mahomes Rodgers, find the right situation and go to MVP type level. That's what I believe about him, but we'll talk about him later. Justin feels, though, is extremely talented and reliable. And everything I saw on film told me that this was somebody that is going to make an impact at the next level. I told you to me, he reminds me a lot of Cam Newton just in his stance is pocket presence, the way he throws the football like he's he's not as big as Cam Newton.

And he doesn't run like Cam Newton, but he throws better than Cam Newton. Yeah. And he's a dual threat quarterback.

He's still big Dreamlifter. He's not he's not small. He's six. Three to twenty eight. And so I didn't you know, some of these players we've talked about a lot together in the office, some we've we've kind of mentioned in our own scouting, but you guys are both with me. Or I'm with you on Justin Fields. Yeah, I love him. I loved his rushing ability. He is. He is. He is very fast and and not small.

I mean, the the comparisons to Vic. It makes sense. But he because they both have huge arms and and can run. But I think Fields' is going to be outstanding and I think he's going to be outstanding for fantasy football immediately.

I do think he'll be number three. He'll be the number three pick, go to San Francisco and will start and he'll be able to make an impact in that. I don't want to keep breaking down that scheme because maybe I will get drafted there. Well, it makes a huge difference, but no matter what field will be used and they will maximize his abilities. And with, you know, like with Cayler just a couple of years ago, as long as someone's out there in Lamar, like as long as they're willing to rush right away, it's going to be a big deal for fans.

Yeah. I mean, really, all you need to know about Justin feels at this point is that he was very similar to Trevor Lawrence, a superstar recruit out of high school.

He was supposed to, you know, be one of the next great ones. He's a very, very hard worker. He's an incredible athlete. So dual threat. I think you can make every NFL throw. And when you've got that athleticism, you've got the track record of success that he has.

And, you know, you can combine what he does on the field with fantasy football, how that works.

I love the future outlook for Justin Fields and I think he's a winner.

So I'm much, much more confident in him than in the entire rest of the quarterbacks like Zach Wilson, you know, Trey Lance, Mack Jones, I.

I am much more confident that Justin Fields will succeed as an NFL star. And we don't have to worry about fields being soft. Like if you saw what happened in in the playoffs where you mean like he took that shot in in the ribs and then managed to go down and throw a touchdown? It's not going to you know, I don't know if he should have been in the game or not, but like when it comes to toughness. You don't got to worry about that with just the feels that the dude is a beast.

Yeah, and I would compare his his running prowess more to a Russell Wilson like Cam is at times runner first. You know, I think Justin Fields is much more like Ross, where he is going to go through his progressions. You know, people have criticized him as a one read quarterback. And then when you break the numbers down, you know, he actually had great accuracy at a second and third read level. So I think some of the things that people have picked him apart for, you know, going to the same school as Dwayne Haskins does not get it that you're not a great quarterback on film fields, like I said.

Great flaw in my opinion, you know, San Francisco might end up better for him than another destination, but that's just where we're at, I think is hopeful that he finds a good home. Interesting. So, Trillanes, we're talking about last night.

Yeah. Because this is we're talking about fantasy rankings. And both Jason and I have we have great doubts. All right. I have great doubts that free lance will be able to translate into an NFL quarterback. But for fantasy purposes, I'm going to take the shot on him before I go to Zach Wilson. Oh, I the first big disagreement on the show, Jason. Yeah.

So I have right now, as far as fantasy football rankings, I have, say, Lance ahead of Zach Wilson, that will, I expect, probably change after the NFL draft because I think Zach Wilson will be starting game one. And I think there's a good chance that wherever Trey Lance goes, he's behind. So, you know, if the Falcons were to draft him, then Matt Ryan's a starter. Training is the future, in which case those would easily flip flop.

But I think what Mike and I are saying here is, you know, this is a guy like you just brought up fields is more of a Russell Wilson type of runner. He's not a guy that had a thousand yards rushing in, you know, four hundred and eighty yards rushing. This is a Josh Allen, Cam Newton.

Trey Lance is a thousand yard rush rush for 1100 yards in his really he's only starting season. Right, which was twenty nineteen covid took away the twenty twenty program. They only had one game which wasn't that great for him this year. But so for fantasy purposes, if they were both starters in the NFL year one, I would put trailers ahead. Yeah, yeah, that's a big if I mean, I don't know if Trillanes is going to be able to make it to the next level, he's the player I was least impressed of the top prospects with on film.

I don't think it's going to be able to do it with his arm. I didn't see him make you know, it was run first run, first run first, first read, run first. I have great concern. And the one year sample size, I've pretty significant concerns with Trillanes. And so that's a big F to me. Like Zach Wilson is definitively higher for me. But Lance is somebody that, you know, he's going to be the biggest risk for an NFL team.

Yeah, you have a lot of comparisons to Josh Allen here. He played it, you know, a slightly smaller school like Josh Allen did. So weaker competition beat up on those guys was very, very successful, dominated in the rushing game, has a massive cannon of an arm. So there's a ton of similarities there. And honestly, I think that was risky, too. Right.

And I think that should give confidence to, you know, so the foot clan to what Andy is saying. And you were on Josh Allen. You believed that Josh Allen would have a successful future while a lot of people didn't. And here you are looking at free lance. You don't like the film? I certainly didn't like it as much as Josh Allen. While people talk about his canon arm, it is not Josh Allen esque. I don't believe his arm can rival Josh Allen's end as a runner.

He seems not quite as strong and tough as when I literally after I was done watching Trillanes film, I went back and watched Josh Allen College film because I just you know, it's been a long time since I've watched that. And people that got a hold of Trey Lance, if they got a hold of him in the backfield, they swing them to the ground. People got a hold of Josh Powell and left, right and center. And he's like, be off you little people.

And you just you could never get him down in that week competition. So I don't think my notes on Trey Lance, he's a phenomenal rusher, but I'm not sure if his rushing will translate as well when he's playing NFL caliber. So I agree he is not quite a guaranteed process.

It is a tough decision for fantasy players because I do think he's the kind of player that would benefit from sitting behind an experienced quarterback for a couple of years. I don't know. Is that is that an option for Atlanta, right where Matt Ryan starts and then you can develop Trey? He's extremely young. I believe the twenty one year. I believe that is the best landing spot for him, for the man. Lance, if I could pick my destination, that's where I would pick.

And it's worth noting for Klann, this is supposed to be you know, every year things are touted differently and we're talking about the quarterbacks that are at hand. But this is supposed to be one of the best quarterback draft classes in years. These five or maybe even six prospects are all highly touted, first round grades. All right.

We will this show is meant to be more of an overview than a than a deep dive on these players, because we want to make you aware of who's coming out, who to pay attention to in the draft and who to do your research on, depending on where you're at in your rookie drafts. So I don't I don't want to linger too long on certain players. So we're not meaning to exhaust everything you could say about these players that exist. But Zach Wilson, let's talk about him.

He should go number two to the Jets. I think we all would be shocked if that didn't take place. Very, very impressive arm. Yeah, he has a big arm making quick delivery, makes throws from ridiculous angles with ridiculous speed. He makes the Mahomes Rodgers type of whip throws on the regular with a level of frivolity that those players are able to play with. When you can make those throws.

I do think that this is a pretty. Scary proposition for a team, you need to believe that Zach Wilson has his head on straight and wants to be great at the next level. Where are you guys with Wilson's upset, I know. I guess I get the impression that. It Mike, you're a little lower on him than the consensus Jay Cutler was the calm that came out to me on film from an armed because Jay Cutler's arm was great.

Sure, it was unbelievable. Jay Cutler had his time in the sun for fantasy purposes like Wilson won. One thing when you're when I'm watching him that stands out is he had the the the benefit of playing behind an incredible offensive line. Like there was several plays where I'm watching Wilson stand back there forever. And it's like, dude, this that's not happening in the NFL. Every once in a while, you'll get a team with a super dominant offensive line.

I get that the Jets. But if you're going to the Jets, that will not be happening. You're going to have to make decisions a lot faster and you will not have that that gift of being able to sit there and wait for somebody to get open. Now, I'm not I'm not trying to trash Wilson. He I think he is an impressive talent. He has my note essentially two days before the show was like I think he has all the he has all the traits.

He has all the abilities that he can succeed. Now, can he turn that into actual fantasy football dominance?

It's getting harder and harder for the four players who don't really run, quarterbacks who who don't run to actually be great for fantasy football, like the era of of the well, Brady is going to be around forever.

But the herbut would be the example in that in herbut did do it. That would be the kind of player I see Zach Wilson to be. Right.

So it's not impossible just saying that it is getting harder and harder, which is why in my rookie drafts I'm going to take the up side instead of Zach like Zach Wilson. Sure. He could be, you know, a cool low end quarterback one, but. Making if he hits here, I'll put it this way, if he hits and Trillanes hits three, Lantz's phantasy ceiling is like it's not even in the stratosphere for Wilson.

Much higher risk, though, so it depends on your tolerance for that. Yeah. Zach Wilson on film looks great. He's he's got the tools. He's got the arsenal. I am very skeptical of the competition he played. It was super, super weak. And it's a chicken or the egg thing. Right, because you look at his game split's against good teams. When he played against teams with nine wins or more, he had a seven and nine touchdown to interception ratio versus in the other games.

He was unbelievable. But then only one of those came in twenty twenty. So did he get better? You know, this is the question is in twenty twenty, did he really take a step up and become an elite quarterback worthy of the number two spot, which obviously the Jets think so and I think a lot of people do. Or was his competition really, really, really bad this year, which it was, and that's why he was good.

I, I don't know. But it scares me. It scares me when you have one year of weak competition that you could end up with a robiskie.

I think I think we're Mike and I differed on opinion wise with Wulsin is simply. The long term ceiling for Zach Wilson when he talks about Trillanes hitting that would be very, very significant for fantasy purposes. But I think Wilson represents an arm talent, the kind of player that can hit on a I mean, maybe it's only a one in 20 chance of his career arc. But I do think that the Rogers Mahomes type of future is a possibility. It might be a low probability possibility, which is not the most fun thing to say, but it's still it's still a reality in my world.

And he'll have some weapons. He'll have some opportunities. This is going to be a rebuilt Jets team. Matt Jones.

Excuse me, who? Are you talking about Michael McCorkell Jones, Michael McCorkell, Michael Vick or so just before the show, we decided to check in on why Matt Jones is called Matt Jones.

Mike was very curious. He said, well, I said, who? When you have your child? And they say, what's what's his name?

You go back. I want to leave a man. Do people I know there's people out there that go by Mack. But in my head it started think middle name Donald does that right? Yeah. Good MacDonald joke. But is Mack actually short for something? I didn't I was not aware.

Well, it's short for one of the most common middle names in the English language, McCorkell, which is McCorkell, Michael McCorkell. And so, you know you know why he goes by Mack. Yeah.

If you had McCorkell five to survive on Michael McCorkell, he doesn't get first team reps.

No way he gets your lunch money taken, gets first team reps.

But football wise, how do you feel about a lot of rumors about Mack Jones at 3:00 as well? Is it just feels is it Trillanes? Is it Mack Jones? We don't know. Kyle Shanahan seems to like Mack Jones. Rumors coming out of San Francisco is that's the side that he's on. There's others in the organization that like Trillanes, others that like Justin Fields. I will be honest with you, I didn't want to like Mike Jones period.

Didn't want to like an Alabama quarterback because of the name. I didn't want to like a mccorkell. No, I didn't know it was a mccorkell. You know, there's some some characteristics on the surface reading a book by its cover, I didn't want to I didn't want to like Mac Jones. But I do you like but I like him more than I thought I would on film. I think he's a pretty capable NFL ready quarterback. I think he's a player that, you know, this is the difficult thing about what Jason said when you have.

Five or six quarterbacks coming out that off first round great, you know, some years Blaine gabbert's the best thing on the table, right. And in in a certain year, Matt Jones is the number one pick in this draft. Wasn't that the Christian Ponder year two? I mean, there was a Christian ponder here.

That's all you need to say, right? There are years where you're like, oh, we need a quarterback, Matt Jones, in a different landscape. No, Trevor Lawrence, you know, he could be the first guy off the board. Sure there is. I think some of his draft stock is impacted by the Alabama aspect. Right. You have you play at Alabama. You're playing with the best players around you on both sides of the ball, every single game.

But what I like about Mike Jones on film is, is this is a player that look you look at what does illusive quarterback play mean? Well, it doesn't just mean running away from everybody. It doesn't just mean being too big and strong to throw people off of you. Sometimes it means being a pocket presence player. And Matt Jones is and he's got very, very quick feet in the pocket. He moves around and puts himself, you know, a yard this way, a yard that way to avoid pressure, make the downfield throws.

In my opinion, I was pretty impressed with Matt Jones. So I do think he has Wright right home. He has he has a chance.

Yeah. I mean, one of the tough parts about evaluating Mack Jones is that if if he is truly great, if he is, you know, a next best thing that's really above the shoulders, it's not something that I can see on film because I don't really know what was called in the huddle. I don't know how much was him, how much was him changing some of the line? How much was the you know, I can I can try to say, OK, it looks like there's a second read, but you don't know.

Did he did he go to this, you know, when you're scouting, if we're just being honest, did he say, I'm going to go to that guy on that side of the field to this is I'm looking to the right before the snap. You don't know. Everybody says he's really smart and sure, you're supposed to win at Alabama, but he did six hundred more yards than any other quarterback to open receivers.

And if you compare him to Toure, who also had this system, I feel like he's way better than to do it. Even had better receiving options. He had Devonta Smith. But, you know, you have Jerry Judy gone. I don't know if you played with Ridley, but he you know what I'll miss most of the year. Right. And Mack had a better season. So I do like Matt Jones, but it's hard to evaluate his his dynarski value changes tremendously if he doesn't go number three.

Yeah, if he goes number three to San Francisco, it's very significant. You think it's like a significant hit even if he stays in the top 10?

Yeah, because I don't think it's a guarantee he's he's starting. And I just mean, like, you go to San Francisco with Kyle Shanahan, that's going to be a huge difference then even going to someplace like Denver. Mm hmm. And not necessarily starting day one and not being in the Shanahan system and not having the draft capital that high. I mean, look, it can go south quick for a top 10 pick.

Josh Rosen is a good example of that Christian Ponder playing Gabbert. Yeah. So I think it just means a lot from a Tierce aspect for him to go three. Do you think it goes through? No, I do not, you do not. I do. I do think he goes. I think it's. You think you think it's a smokescreen? I think it's pure smokes.

April, liar. Yes.

I think that I have my odds at Mac Jones Trillanes then just fields. Oh really? Yeah. I think he's my number three right now for who I think San Francisco will pick, but. I've been wrong before. Kyle Trask, last quarterback, I'm sure this is like a so if Jason shout out, if Trey Lantz does go to number three, goes at three to San Francisco, then how are you feeling about Lance versus Zach Wilson? Still question.

OK, only because of the Jimmy Garoppolo if Jimmy Garoppolo is out of town, put me on the reluctant Lance train. OK, Kyle Trask. Yeah, I don't think we need to talk about Kyle Trask, you know.

I mean, I like him. I do. I like his film. When I watch I say he looks as good as Mac Jones. To me he doesn't quite have the same zip. But Peyton Manning didn't throw zip on the ball. He played it over people's shoulders, perfectly in stride.

That's what I see from Kyle Trask. Peyton Manning had zip on the ball, but it seems to me he had a lot of zip before.

He couldn't throw the zip, like you said, because no one could throw zip.

But well, my point is, I don't feel like he was a you know, he was thrown Pat Mahomes heaters here. He would just put the ball exactly where it needed to be in stride. And that's what I saw from Kyle Trask, which I really, really liked. But it looks like he's, you know, not going to be a first round pick. And if he falls to the to, you know, second, third round, then he's irrelevant for fantasy.

I like the prospect we'll revisit him if trap draft capital changes. He he needed to come out in the Blaine Gabbert ear. That's that's what he needed. All right.

We're on two running backs. Nobody wants to talk about running backs to the home.

Just one. Yeah, Mike, you are. No, I refuse to allow Mike to be the Najee Harris guy. Why don't we are everybody in Nigeria?

Guy is not a there's not just some that like Najee Harris. He's the number one. Yes. Running back on most people's boards. Yeah. Between him and Trevor Zetten, people are going back and forth. All right. Let's let's give the quick here some overview and maybe some favorite potential destinations for Nigerians to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. So why? It's like why I'm considered a Naggie here. This guy is because he's my number one.

And it's not there is no a there is it's not A and B, it is Noji. Then space, space, space, space travel ETN entrain maybe like I like every once in a while.

I think I like Jovanotti more than ETN right now, so I am completely on board with Harris. He is going to just dominate for for fantasy purposes. He has clothes not he's not as big but close to Derrick Henry type of size six to 230 pounds. He except he is agile.

He can go out and run routes where Derrick Henry can take a swing pass to the house because he's a locomotive. And once he's going, you can't stop him. Najai has actual, like, quick twitch acceleration that that Derrick Henry does the turn in high point the ball in the air on a route.

Exactly. I think that he is he can walk in and instantly be in unquestioned three down running back where ETN, maybe Jovanotti, maybe to me Harris will walk right into a three down roll and will be incredibly valid.

He will turn into one of those guys who is a you're debating should I spend a top three pick a energy.

Now, I, I only feel like we can say that about rookie running backs when they go in the top ten. He's not going in the top ten.

He might not go he may go back to the first run. You guys were very excited about Jonathan Taylor last year, but the draft capital forced the hand of fantasy players and changed the viewpoint. It moved Clyde to no one. Sure. And it put him on a trajectory where, look, there are only so many destinations in football where you can walk into a three down roll and then you compound that with the draft capital where I've seen Najee go second round.

Yep, yep. And it's very possible.

So to me that that's what separates him from us. You know, Christian McCaffrey coming out or even Leonard Fournette in the first round or Ezekiel Elliott.

Yeah, it is definitely a shame that he's not going to be a top ten guy. He'll be a low in round one guy. We're hoping he goes in the middle, but he could go behind. It's absolutely I think most mock drafts I've seen ETN is ahead. But I think where Mike and I stand together is the lesson we learned from last year in the Jonathan Taylor and not flipping off of that one. That talent, his talent is enough to me where landing spot does not matter.

He will be my number one running back. I don't care where he goes.

You don't care where I go. I mean, I care for his future. He goes to to Buffalo. I'm sorry. Travis Eaton goes to Pittsburgh. Nigerias goes to Buffalo.

You have my attention. Yeah, I dunno. They didn't take me very long. I don't want that to happen.

But the point here is like while scouting Nadji, you never, ever, ever see one guy tackle him. It takes a village. He's fast.

He's got nothing negative to save energy here. I'm just it's my job to bring up these. Sure. These points. The draft capital is one of them. He is older.

Yeah. A year older than Eaton. Yeah. I'm just saying.

Twenty three years old already because he was a four year guy. That just means he's got his man body, right. Yes. And he has a man by the. What's interesting is like if I think that Miami is probably the number one location to me, just because I've seen this, I don't disagree with you. I've seen this coaching staff.

Atlanta might not be too bad, though. Atlanta? No, Atlanta would be great. Let's say Miami is I've seen the coaching staff. They will give their guy everything. And Najee Harris would. Myles Gaskins. Well, you would just be completely evaporated. So I apologize if you're a Gascón truth when that happens. What's an interesting one is Pittsburgh. And let's say you get you send Noji to Pittsburgh and you send ETN to Miami, then you can at least have the debate because of the situation that Miami is in there ready to go and Pittsburgh needs to rebuild their offensive line, where Najai is still probably my number one guy in that very specific instance.

But I think that the point is that I'm trying to make it Jason's trying to make is it would take a. A shocking turn of events in the draft to flip someone over here is for us. I think one of the things that's interesting about the running back class, there's a lot of talent at the very top, but there aren't destinations that are make even you know, you have to find one really like Miami. OK, I'm pretty happy with Miami.

We would have been pretty happy Van Jones went there, but rookies. Second round, Miami has some talent, their running back. I wish there were two or three destinations where I felt like he gets drafted there tomorrow and he's being drafted number one in a rookie draft. And I just don't think that that's necessarily going to happen. What do you think? He goes to the Jets. You're looking at him that way? Yeah. Yeah. I would be the first opportunity the Jets, the Steelers, the Dolphins, who, you know, there's there's a few dozen in Arizona.

Yeah. All right.

Travis Eaton, we'll talk about him briefly.

Big play guy, big burst player, great pass catcher, which could make a tremendous impact in fantasy if he ends up in a in a three down role where you're not doubting that part of the Travis ETN equation, I have no problem personally drafting him ahead of Najee Harris. I am letting fate decide between those two in my rookie draft. I'm letting that destination make the decision for me because I think ETN is in an elite category. You guys have or at least Mike has huge space between.

Yeah, the two of them, but both for your starters, both for you, for your starters, it at perennial national championship programs. The knock on Eaton was the senior season didn't usurp the previous two, you know, eight a monster seasons. But he did catch the ball a ton. Yeah, that changed. He really worked on being a pass catcher. He was talked to about it when ETN got into college. He was nervous. He was scared to catch the ball.

That's not a part of his game that he wanted to be involved in. But he knew that to make it in the NFL, he had to work on it. Clearly, he did the biggest separator. I mean, aside from size. But the separator funny is the the knock you can give to Harris is he does lack long speed. You know, the home run Derrick Henry or Adrian Peterson type of speed. Harris doesn't have that. And I, I don't care.

But ETN absolutely has that. He has and he he has the extra gear and kind of has that the the noss sitting on his in the backpack that he can just click on it whenever he feels like it, that Harris Harris doesn't have that extra gear though there is some concerns. You know, when you look at Najee Harris, you know, he's going to be able to sustain, uh, in between the tackle work all the time. ETN is a player that, you know, when you saw him have success, the collegiate bouncer to the outside use the speed to get there.

That can be something that breaks down when you're five, ten, two or five at the next level. If you don't get to you know, you're facing athletes of a different caliber. Although Clemson faced a lot of pretty good athletes, that would be the one that's not in part kind of worry and him potentially just not being a three down back in the NFL. He could be drafted to a team that that decides to use him as a complement.

Yeah.

Two hundred and five pounds. He might not be the goal line back. I think that would be a mistake because Alvin Kamara is great around the goal. Right. And that's kind of I've got him as like a poor man's Alvin Kamara comp. But he is he is very good. There's three good backs this year. So let's talk about the third one.

Yeah. Davonte Williams, North Carolina, shared the backfield, broke the pro football focus record for broken tackles per attempt. Yeah, he is very elusive.

Seventy five broken tackles led the country early contact balance and three seasons. But his his final season was the most impressive. Nineteen touchdowns on the ground. And on top of that, he is sharing. He had to share the field with Michael Carter, yet still had a college dominator score the same as Naggie who like we're a little bit lower on Michael Carter here, I think compared to the consensus out there. But Carter is going to like Carter, but he's Carter will be drafted like Carter is going to be on an NFL team.

So to have to split time with another another NFL pro and still have the success that Williams had, that says a lot.

When I was watching Williams, Michael, you talked about the contact balance and I felt like I was watching the Kareem Hunt tape out of Toledo, where you it takes a lot to make him lose his balance, to knock him off his center of gravity, like, will just bounce off of him the triangle.

And he and he made. Yes, yeah. He's he's just he's he's planted he's rooted into the ground.

His his passing production profile wasn't as great as Kareem Hunt, but man, that's that's who my comp was. And that's not something I want to. You don't hand out to Kareem Hunt comp lightly. You certainly do. But to that's not my bag is not recognizing a NFL pro while I'm watching a college player. So that the fact that that actually jumped out to me was it was a pretty big deal for my scouting of like, this player is going to be great.

Yeah, I think he's going to be very, very good, but I don't think great. Yeah. You know, it's going to be great. He is he's he's got he's shifty, he's powerful, but he's he's good at everything elite to me at not necessarily any one thing, one trait, but I really like them. I've got him as a Melvin Gordon, David Montgomery, CompE, he will be drafted to be a three down back, though that's what I tell you as fast as Melvin, that's that's what I love about his his size in his profile is that whatever team is going to take a shot on him, they're probably doing that because they want to have a three down back.

Where are you going all round. Second round, I think late second.

Yeah, I think late second. Third will be the lowest. He will go OK and third, round it up. We're good.

I could very, very easily see and I'm not saying I want this, but I could very easily see. And I've heard rumblings of of the cardinals taking him, which would be a very good landing spot for him.

It would. I think it's possible. Trey, sermon goes ahead of him in the draft. OK, well, um, we'll talk about momentarily. Yeah. Jabateh very impressive on film. You know, managed to dominate despite sharing the backfield, as you said, didn't catch a ton of passes, but twenty five this past year. But pretty good, even the 25, you know, he's still he's still hit the threshold for our our production profile when you're comparing him to what pro good pros did back for their college team.

So he's even though those numbers feel low, it looking at a percentile while he's still OK and he ran a four or five five. Yeah. Which is Kareem Hunt was like a four six, two or something. We don't have an official number from NAGE like.

Correct. He didn't run. Yeah. I choose not to run to Trey sermon. Let's talk about Qasimi is difficult to gauge because he's always hurt. Well, it's because he spent three years and then he had to transfer to go to Ohio. And I mean, he played on the on a big time stage, looked pretty solid. I kind of like him in the tape from IDU to he he is tough because he.

What I'm watching him, it checks the boxes or he checks the boxes, but in the most like, not exciting way, he's tall, very tall. And so I'm like, he's good. But I'm just I don't know that that the juice, the spark, it just doesn't happen very much when I'm when I'm watching him.

He had a couple of games. And then this is part of the downside. Right. He had all of his production came in like these three games that were unbelievable. If you watch film on those games, you go, this guy is a world leader. He wants it more than anyone else on the on the field. And, you know, he just he he got going. But then he had some bad games mixed in there. He's dealt with injury problems.

I like Trey sermon.

I wonder if we haven't seen the best from him yet. Yeah. So it's entirely possible the fact that he had to transfer out and then dealt with injuries, there are enough good games on film where I go. This guy could be something special. But, you know, we say this a lot this time of year. It really depends on the capital that's going to go in specifically for running backs more than every other position. Draft capital has a very large correlation to fantasy success.

All right.

Regrettably, I have to talk about another Memphis' running back on the show in Mike's presence, sophomore Kenneth Gane, while 511 195.

Yeah, little guy small. I am on record as appreciating the multifaceted abilities of Kenneth Gane. Well, his stop and go in shiftiness and pass catching ability. And I think he's going to make an NFL team significantly better. But I do not know that he will do it on a consistent and enough basis from a workload standpoint to make me excited in fantasy. He opted out of 20, 20, so you really have one season in 2019 where he came on dominated and then said, yeah, I don't think I can do anything better in twenty twenty.

So it's hard to know. And more than any player in this draft, this is there's two there's there's Kenneth Cranwell and Rondell Moore. Those are the two that to me Rondo Moore, a wide receiver there. Draft capital makes all the difference to them because I think they're electric and outstanding that I watch them, they're fantastic.

But I worry that they will not be given by an NFL team the opportunity to show that they can really, you know, that their bodies can withstand a high NFL workload and that Mike did what he weighed in at Toyota at his pro day, which is still he didn't gain well enough to say like how what did Eaton win it like?

Wasn't he like a two or five guy? I believe he said two or five to ten. Just saying that size difference between those two guys is not tremendous. It looks because the gain was an inch taller, but ten pounds lighter. And so that the tape, Jason, where you talk about he a couple of years ago when he had his true breakout season in college, the reason that Antonio Gibson did not have more production is because he had to play behind Kenneth Gane.

Well, that's how good this guy was for Memphis.

We've seen the good and the bad from Memphis, so to speak. I mean, a lot of promise. We both love Darryl Henderson coming out. Yeah. Hasn't really, you know, he seemed to hit a ceiling, didn't didn't see, you know, injuries a little bit. But, you know, I think we all agree he carmakers is runaway with that job. And then you saw Antonio Gibson with very limited work at Memphis, come out and make a big impact and give you a lot of promise for the future.

So gain well sits to you know, to me he's going to have to make an ekler like impact on the team. And he can't he's he's a leader.

He's the best pass catcher in this class by far. The running back at the running back position.

He's I mean, Manafort for two on Friday.

It's almost, I feel like half of his snaps. He was lined up at wide receiver every time I'd watch. He's in the slot. He's lining up outside. He is you know, I worry that he's going to turn into Theo Riddick, which is, hey, Theo, Rick had some really good, you know, fantasy value. But it's obviously not the dominant fantasy asset you're hoping for. All right.

We've gone through the top five quarterbacks and the top five running backs. Give me one more running back name. I know Chuba Hubbard could end up going ahead of game gain. Well, he could, yeah. And that would be another one to bring up. Is there another name that you want to.

I'll give one name here. Don't take my name.

Well, is, is he a large hefty fellow. Is it McCorkell. No. Ramachandra Stephenson. Some say Raymond Stevens because he's a big boy.

He's he's a large fellow. And I really I'm I'm fascinated with him because my my notes on Ramachandra Stevenson are terrible. Like, I'm like he looks slow, he looks fat, he looks awful.

Like I did not like scouting his tape at all. But then as the season went along, he was suspended the year prior, missed the first part of the games because of I don't remember his PDA.

I don't think it was PDA.

I think it was maybe a disciplinary thing. But he was suspended and it looked like he came in super fat like you, that I felt so bad for the jersey.

And I feel like for my size I'm allowed to say this because my shirts screen and the jersey did. But at the towards the end of the daylight. Yes, exactly. Towards the end of the season and the, you know, into the college bowl season, I feel like he looked different and he's got he got a bigger draw. If he ever either got a bigger jersey or just got those matters. So I am fascinated with him because I think he's I think if he's in shape, he's talented.

It's kind of like Eddie Lacy. You had to Eddie Laces. You had a really, really talented guy who could catch the ball, could run people over. And then you definitely see there was like you, you're slow and can't do anything. And so that's kind of what Raymond Ray Stephenson is. I don't know his current shape that you're oval or triangle, but you're pretty fascinated with him.

Oh, wow. I actually like that one. Yes, I am. I am pretty fascinated with him. Mike, did you have any other names you want to Khaleel herbut he played for Virginia Tech. OK, and he's another situation where he little erb's. Yeah. Yeah. A little instead of bigger. Yeah. Where he was at Kansas and I think it was he played behind PUCA Williams who is another hopeful draft prospect of the running back position, and he transferred out and he went to Virginia Tech.

But I, I saw a guy who who has it his production. Profile is subpar, and that stuff is important to me of that when I've been tracking rookies and they're making the jump, the production profile absolutely matters. So his is a little bit scary, but he he is a well-rounded player that could find himself into a he he could be a three down guy if the universe works in mysterious ways for him. Either of you fans of Chuba.

But he's interesting because he is so fast and which is 40 was actually not fast but game go watch him play. And he is this feels like a depth NFL. He is fast and when his, you know, a couple of years ago and so in twenty eighteen for Oklahoma State, his production profile is off the charts.

Breakaway speed is better than anyone. I mean, it's like C.J. Spiller where if you can get him out in space you will you will not catch him. But I didn't see much outside of the straight line speed. And obviously 20/20 was very disappointing a down year for him.

So I always have a hard time when someone gets worse.

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