NFC North Breakdown + Depth Chart Takeaways, Christian Kirk

This year, you know, it's subpar, but I, you know, I think some people haven't ranked a little too low. When it comes to Kirk Cousins, you've got to ask yourself if you actually believe in the ADP of everyone else that's currently going for the Vikings, right? Because you've got basically a top 10 guy in Dalvin Cook. You've got two top 15 wide receivers in Adam Thielen and Stefan Diggs. You have a top eight tight in in Kyle Rudolph. If all of those things were to come true,

Then Kirk Cousins is 100% locked and loaded as a top five, maybe the second, you know, he's in the top three at quarterback. I really like Kirk Cousins this year because of those aforementioned weapons. But I also worry, you know, look, the defense is really good. They're solid. They might not need to be running up scores a lot. And so is it realistic?

Are we overestimating the Vikings' offense this year based on them out-producing expectations last season? That's kind of my overall worry, especially with huge changes. I mean, when you change quarterback, that's large. But when you change offensive coordinator, that is also a big thing. And now you've done both. With a defensive-minded head coach, all those changes have me a little bit worried that we're overestimating the Vikings' offense. I think that's, I mean,

You have to see both sides of the coin as a fantasy owner. When you look at the Vikings, and that's the narrative if you need to write something negative about the Viking situation. The positive is obviously all the weapons and tools. Look, it's going to be an efficiency-based offense anyway. I mean, if their defense is good, it's not going to take very much for cousins to be relevant. I mean, if the defense is good. I want the defense to be good. And, you know, John D. Felipe coming in, somebody that I think we all believe in, I feel a great deal of confidence that.

Stefan Diggs and I'm feeling will support Kirk Cousins' fantasy value. I 100% agree. Kirk Cousins, three straight years, over 4,000 yards. His accuracy is fantastic. He has one of the better deep balls in the league over the past three years. He's averaging a completion percentage of 65%. He's an upgrade. He's an upgrade over Case Kingdom, and Case

well, he at least supported the weapons. And I think that Cousins is better so that he can support himself. Well, I think Minnesota Vikings fans, and even though Case Keen had performed well, you were still, you know, cross fingers behind your back every week when Cousins or when Keenan went out there saying, you know, is this the week that the wheels are going to fall off? Do it, you know, is he simply managing an offense versus being an asset to the offense? Right now, Kirk Cousins, we have him at, Jason, you have him the highest.

I haven't at five. Yeah, you haven't at five. Mike at eight. I have him at nine. He's our consensus six, however, tied with Matthew Stafford. And I actually view him and Matthew Stafford in a similar vein, you know, in terms of talent, in terms of ability. And fantasy performance, I would imagine those two guys are pretty darn close this season. Yeah, they could be. Shifting it over to Dalvin Cook. Yeah, let's talk Dalvin. So through the first three games, you can.

We have a really, really small sample of Dalvin Cook because he tore his ACL in the fourth game, which his fourth game, he was already dominating 13 for 66 before he went down. But before that, he was averaging over 20 attempts a game. He was averaging over four targets a game. How are you guys feeling about Dalvin Cook? Like I said, very, very small sample size.

Latavius Murray, the guy they had brought in, they thought was going to be the starter, was still not healthy, was still not ready to be fully implemented into the offense. But Dalvin Cook, meanwhile, was going top of the second round. Jason, are you comfortable taking Dalvin Cook as possibly as your running back one? Yeah, I am confident. I'm very confident because, yes, you have a very small sample size in the NFL.

But he was also, you know, he came in supposed to be that. It's not like, you know, a Jordan Howard guy, fourth round pick that comes in and, you know, oh, man, he was really surprising. Dalvin Cook, the only bad thing about Dalvin Cook's history outside of this current injury.

is his combine. Like his combine was a little low and people were like, oh, maybe the superstar collegiate running back is not going to be great in the NFL. And then he lights it on fire. And yes, Latavius Murray was not. His combine, he lit that on fire and said it's just his dumb. He let that fire in a dumpster. But the thing is, is a lot's being made. Latavis Murray wasn't healthy. So maybe he's going to eat in. But Derek McKinnon is gone. And Jerich McKinnon got a lot of.

A lot of work, a lot of passing work. Latavius Murray showed nothing last year that was special. He was functional as a running back. And then what I like is, you know, John DiFilippo has come out and said he doesn't look like he's hesitating at all in practice. He's going to get reps in the preseason. He's been dominating in past protection, something that, you know, he's going to fill that role at a minimum on third down of what Derek McKinnon was going to do. And then I think he's going to split.

on first and second down, that's the worst case scenario. If he's splitting time, I think the only worry that we have as fantasy owners is, hey, does he get the ball in the red zone? Does he get it inside the five-yard line? Goal line is everything. If Dalvin Cook ends up sharing carries at the goal line for a player, you're spending that, a top 13 pick in fantasy football, that would be a really big bummer.

Yeah. So, yeah, I think it could be a little bit of a ramp up for Cook's fantasy value during the season. Do you agree with that? I don't. From a rep perspective, you expect him to get the same level of work in week one that you'd see him get in week 10, week 12? I do. From what has come out of camp is, you know, he's fully back. He's electric. Well, Latavius is still taking third downs right now. Yeah, it's interesting. I think that Dalvin Cook does.

carry a little bit more risk, even though I'm with Jason. I'm very confident in Dalvin Cook. He definitely carries a little bit more risk. Kyle Rudolph, Andy, where do you got Kyle Rudolph? That's a great question. Andy's the one we need to worry about here. Kyle Rudolph is fine, guys. Kyle Rudolph is fine. I don't have anything against Kyle Rudolph. I just want tight ends with upside. I got him at 11. Jason, Jason, where do you got him? I haven't at four. I've got him behind. Slight difference. What? F4.

He's got him ahead of Greg Olson, ahead of Evan Ingram, ahead of Trey Burton, ahead of Jimmy Graham, ahead of Delaney Walker. Ahead of his time, they call him. It certainly might be too high. And look, these are stat-based projections. I feel like that's a spite ranking. No, it's not a spite rating. These are stat-based projections of where they might finish. It's not, you know, a lot of times people are like, oh, you drafted this guy ahead of him, but you've got him ranked higher. That's not necessarily that, you know,

That doesn't take everything into account, right? What you are saying about Kyle Rudolph is that his ceiling is not super high. He's not going to be the number one target in his offense. He's not going to be the number one weapon. I think he feels cozy with about, you know, 50 receptions. Right. Whereas, you know.

Greg Olson could be still the number one target in his offense. Jimmy Graham could be the number one weapon in the red zone. Kyle Rudolph is just kind of there, tried, true. He's going to be a third down guy, and he's a big target in the red zone. But if you look over the last couple of years, he's just been so consistent, even though he's not phenomenal. That's why the stats bear him out a little bit higher. And I'm going to piggyback on that before we talk about the Lions, Jason, because you brought up a good point. I do want to point that out.

you know, make a joke about you having Kyle Rudolph at 4. There's nothing funny about that. But here's the truth. In our Dynasty League, I'm sorry, in our League of Record, three-keeper League, I had the number one pick in that draft. It was going to be probably Zeke, even though I have Camara ranked higher. Trade value in our league. Zeke has significantly higher trade value. Ultimately, in number one, I said, you know what? In a league like this, I actually wanted Sequin Barclay. I traded down to three.

to get Saquan Barclay or potentially get Saquan Barclay because of the league you're in. This is why the ultimate draft kit is not just a cheat sheet. This is why the ultimate draft kit is not just a rankings sheet. It does come with cheat sheets. It does come with those. But that's what I'm trying to say is like you're supposed to take those. This is what we try to prescribe here at the fantasy footballers is a holistic approach where you take the news, the information, the rankings, the consensus, and then.

You mix in, you know, a couple scoops of your league scoring and your keeper rules and the people you play against and the way that they trade and the biases of your league and wherever you're based, you know, and who they're going to draft. And that all has to go into the way that you factor the value of a player, right? Certainly. And so Jason, for instance, may draft a team with a bunch of high upside guys.

And then Kyle Rudolph at 4 looks a lot more attractive as a baseline tied in week to week as opposed to going with somebody that has a little bit more flash. Jordan. Jordan Reed. Yeah. Exactly. Those are the polar opposite of type of players. So it's important that you evaluate everything in the context of your league. Lions. Now, Jason, and Mike, can you grab us a straight jacket for a second? And I'll give you a minute to tie Jason up.

Well, I think for Jason's sake, we should start with the starting. From here on, it's he who shall not be named. No, we're going to talk about the starting running back, Lagart Blunt. Yes. Yes, we are. I mean, 18 touchdowns a couple years ago, guys, signed this off-season. Legerat, am I right? Legerat Blunt is going to eat on the goal line. Oh, man. Well, Legerat Blunt, let's talk about him.

Legitimately, though. Sure. He has a history with Matt Patricia going back to New England. That has to be, you know, one of the significant reasons why they brought him in there. There's a stabilizing nature to having Legerat Blunt there, a more durable running back, somebody that lets you ease in. Carry on Voldemort. And Theoretic is there, who's been one of the most consistent pass-catching running backs in the game. Amir Abdul is still there too, isn't he?

Yeah, he's somewhere. I think he has a different job. When will Amir Abdullah be Corey Coleman? I feel like that's coming soon. Very soon. Unless they want to commit him to special teams and let him be their kick returner, punt returner. You know, that would be a role I would give Amir Abdullah right out of the gate. Yeah. But for Legerra Blunt, in all seriousness, despite the hype that Carry on is getting.

coming out of training camp. I still expect Legerick Blunt to be the starting running back for at least a couple of weeks. You know what this looks like to me? I hadn't thought about this before. Chris Johnson in Arizona and David Johnson. Right. Where the incumbent still gets work, but eventually the talent overcomes. Well, the talent overcame two injuries in the case of David Johnson. It wasn't until...

Chris Johnson and, oh, I can't even recall the other running back who was in front of David that season. And he went down. That's how David Johnson got. Andre Ellington. Thank you. Ellington, yes. And Andre Ellington. But I think Kerion will take over. I think the talent will win out. But it's not going to be week one. So that's where it's tough for me in fantasy drafts to spend that sixth round pick on Kerry on Johnson knowing I'm going to be holding.

him on my bench for I don't know how long. I hope it's two weeks, but what if it's six weeks? What if it's eight weeks? Because Legerick Blunts still has enough left in the tank, and the team has committed to him. Yeah, and we also do not have, I mean, look, Matt Patricia is a brand new head coach. We talk a lot about Marvin Lewis doesn't want his rookies to get in right away. Head coaches can control that, and we don't know.

Matt Patricia's belief in that, you can't know it yet. And so there is, without a doubt, a lot of risk built into taking Carry On Johnson as any kind of reliable piece that you have to start week one. And this is coming from the Carry On Johnson Truther. You have to recognize that. That come week one, he very well might not get work that is worthy of being a starting running back in fantasy football. I believe he will. But the risk is there. If you look in the ultimate draft kit,

The risk rating on Caryon Johnson is higher than, you know, because I've got him projected as a starter, my risk rating is much higher according to those projections. This, and now it's only a six-round pick, but that's right now because Jason keeps pumping up the average draft position of Caryon Johnson. This is Joe Mixon from last year, who ended up as a fourth round pick, even though in front of him was Jeremy Hill. Jeremy Hill, Garrett Blunt.